What type of government allows citizens to vote for leaders to make decisions on their behalf?

A representative government is a system in which citizens elect officials to make decisions and create laws on their behalf. This form of government is designed to ensure that elected representatives reflect the interests of their constituents, enabling a more manageable and efficient decision-making process compared to direct participation in every issue, which can be cumbersome in larger societies. In a representative government, individuals exercise their political power through voting, which allows them to influence and control government actions without needing to participate directly in every legislative debate.

This contrasts with other systems mentioned. In autocracy, one individual holds all power with little input from the populace. An oligarchy is ruled by a small group of people, or elites, often without any regard for the broader citizenry's preferences. Meanwhile, direct democracy empowers citizens to vote on specific issues directly; while it offers a high level of citizen engagement, it is rarely practical in large populations due to the challenges of organization and representation.