The assembly would become a microcosm of society, representing all genders, races, religions and ages etc. in an equal ratio. This would obviously make sure that all minorities got to express their political views. These can often be overlooked in a normal representative system. .
The Mandate Model theorises that in the event of winning an election, the representatives will have a clear popular mandate that the people have voted on. By carrying these out, popular rule is carried out. The most popular policies are put into action.
These models give a good view of different types of representative democracy, and exactly how they differ. in answer to the question "what is representative democracy?" I would conclude that it is a form of democratic system in which representatives put forward policies which they deem to be in the best interests of the public they represent. However, this is not always the case and in some instances representatives do not always do what is in the publics best interests. Thomas Paine outlined this fault in human nature, saying "if politicians exercise their own judgement, they will simply act in their own interests". This is a problem in all representative political systems but we trust our better judgement when electing representatives.
Different political minds have held different views on representation. James Mills called representation "the grand discovery of modern times". He was probably bias toward this statement because of the belief at the time that the public needed representation by the upper classes. Rousseau on the other hand believed representation to be altogether impermissible. He believed that self government was the way forward. This was not really viable and John Stuart Mill strongly disagrees stating "self government can only occur when the state is small enough for the whole state to assemble". .
Although both members of George Washington's cabinet in the US government both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson held very different views on representation and whether or not it should, or did, promote popular rule.
