Full Idea
Bernard Manin (1995) revealed how, immediately after the American and French revolutions, the electoral-representative system was chosen with the intention of keeping at bay the tumult of democracy.
Gist of Idea
Representative elections were developed in order to avoid democracy
Source
David van Reybrouck (Against Elections [2013], 3 'procedure')
Book Reference
Reybrouck,David van: 'Against Elections', ed/tr. Waters,Liz [Bodley Head 2016], p.62
A Reaction
At the time America and France were two of the largest countries in the world, and communication and transport were slow. That has changed.