In most democratic States, however, democracy has meant representative government. The ordinary citizen comes into the process only by casting a vote in favour of a representative or of the broad policy of a party. Decision on concrete issues is left to the body of elected representatives, the Legislature, or to a smaller group, the Government or “ Executive”, acting with the consent of the Legislature. So what we have in practice is oligarchy, government by a few, but an oligarchy elected by the people as a whole and responsible to the people as a whole, responsible in the sense that it can be turned out at the next election and replaced by a different group of rulers. Vestiges of pure democratic procedure are found in some States where a popular referendum is held on certain basic issues, but generally speaking democracy in the modern world means representative government, the democratic element consisting in popular election and the possibility of dismissal.