No, it is not a representative republic, it is a Constitutional republic. The purpose of the Constitution is to put some things outside the reach of democratic majorities, representative or direct.
The problem with democracy is that the people who create businesses and wealth will always be a small minority of the population, and will thus be a tempting target for robbery via government. Self-rule only survives as long as the majority of the people are moral enough to not want to steal other people's property.
In the Arab world, democracy does not work because the majority does not have the necessary mind-set to make it work.
In the Arab world, democracy does not work because the majority does not have the necessary mind-set to make it work.
They had better voting procedures than we do (inked finger when they voted), but ... Shia voted for Shia representatives, and then all of the Shia representatives voted together. They would have been better off dividing up the country by sect.
Meanwhile ... all of the Christians and other minorities were systematically killed off.