What is the difference between a democracy and a republic?

In a pure democracy, citizens vote directly on laws and policies themselves. In a republic, citizens elect representatives who then make decisions on their behalf. The key distinction is direct versus representative governance. In practice, most modern nations blend both concepts. The United States, for example, is a constitutional republic with democratic elements, meaning people elect representatives, but those representatives are also constrained by a constitution that protects individual rights from majority rule. A pure democracy theoretically allows a majority to override the rights of a minority, while a republic adds structural safeguards against that. Many countries called democracies are technically republics, and the terms are often used interchangeably in casual conversation.