noun
representative government
A political system in which citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf; a formal term used in political science and history.
代議政体は、国民が選挙で代表者を選ぶ制度です。
Representative government is a system in which the people elect representatives through elections.
議会制民主主義 (parliamentary democracy) is a broader concept that includes representative government as its core mechanism, but emphasizes the role of parliament and democratic principles.
代議制 (representative system) is a more general term for any system of representation, while 代議政体 specifically refers to the form of government based on that principle.
Compound of 代議 (representation, deliberation on behalf of others) and 政体 (form of government, polity). The term was coined in the Meiji era as a translation of Western political concepts.