Considerations on Representative Government
1861 book by John Stuart Mill
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Considerations on Representative Government is a book by John Stuart Mill published in 1861.[1][2]
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Title page of the first edition | |
| Author | John Stuart Mill |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Parker, Son and Bourn |
| Publication date | 1861 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| Pages | viii, 340 pp. |
Summary
Mill argues that representative government is the ideal form and that the function of legislatures is less to enact legislation than to host public debate on the various opinions held by the population and to oversee those who prepare and administer laws and public policy:[3]
Their part is to indicate wants, to be an organ for popular demands, and a place of adverse discussion for all opinions relating to public matters, both great and small; and, along with this, to check by criticism, and eventually by withdrawing their support, those high public officers who really conduct the public business, or who appoint those by whom it is conducted.
