the most common type of government in the western world is called democracy. in democracies, people in a country can vote during elections for representatives or political parties that they prefer. the people in democracies can elect representatives who will sit on legislatures such as the parliament or congress. political parties are organizations of people with similar ideas about how a country or region should be governed. different political parties have different ideas about how the government should handle different problems. democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people.