According to Madison, the diverse beliefs within a society regarding the government results in the formation of factions. Factions are present in both Republic and Direct Democracy (or pure democracy) government systems. However, he explains that a republic can do a better job on controlling the effects of factions for 2 main reasons:
- In a pure democracy, a common interest is felt by the majority. Thus, it becomes almost impossible for the government to control the factions' effects.
- The power, in a Republic, would be in the hands of a small number of citizens (elected by the people). Thus, the power in this situation is spread out which helps to control the factions and the effects.