Arepublic is aform o govrenment whaur pouer is exercised bi the public in general,[1] an affairs o state are a concern o the public sphere (fraeLaitin:res publica), an no privately accommodatit (like throuchinheritance ordivine mandate).
Representation in a republic micht or michtnae be freely electit bi the common fowk. In mony auld republics, representation wis based on personal staunin, an elections played a sma pairt. This still rings true the day; amang the 159 states that uise "republic" in their offeecial names as o 2024, an ither states formally set up as republics, there are places that tightly haud doon baith the richt tae representation an the process o election.
The term cam tae haud its modren meanin in reference tae the constitution o the auld Roman Republic, fae the owerthrow o the kings in 509 BC tae the settin up o theEmpire in 27 BC. This constitution wis marked by a Senate made up o walthie aristocrats wi muckle influence; several popular assemblies o aw free citizens, wi the pouer tae elect magistrates frae amang the common fowk an pass laws; an a series o magistracies wi different kinds o civil an poleetical authority.
The term gangs back tae the Latin Translation o the Greek wirdpoliteia.Cicero, amang ither Latin writers, translatedpoliteia intae Latin asres publica, an it wis syne translated by Renaissance scholars asrepublic (or similar terms in various European languages). The term can be literally translated as 'public matter'. It wis uised by Roman writers tae refer tae the state an government, e’en durin the period o theRoman Empire.
The termpoliteia can be translated as a form ogovrenment,polity, or regime, an it disnae necessarily imply ony specific type o regime as the modren wirdrepublic sometimes dis. Ane o Plato's major warks on poleetical philosophy, usually kent in English asThe Republic, wis titledPoliteia. Hooiver, apairt frae the title, modren translations are generally uised[2].Aristotle wis apparently the first classical writer tae state that the termpoliteia can be uised tae refer mair specifically tae ane type opoliteia, assertin in Book III o hisPolitics: "When the citizens at large govern for the public good, it is called by the name common to all governments (to koinon onoma pasōn tōn politeiōn), government (politeia)." In later Latin warks, the termrepublic can also be uised in a general wey tae refer tae ony regime, or specifically tae governments that wirk for the public guid.[3]
In Medieval NorthrenItaly, a nummer o city-states haed commune or signoria-based govrenments. In the late Middle Ages, writers sic as Giovanni Villani described these states uisin terms likelibertas populi, a free fowk. The terminology chynged in the 15th century as the renewed interest in the writin's o Ancient Rome led writers tae prefer classical terminology. Tae describe non-monarchical states, writers (maist importantly, Leonardo Bruni) adopted the Latin phraseres publica.[4]
While Bruni an Machiavelli uised the term tae describe the states o Northren Italy, which warna monarchies, the termres publica haes a set o interrelatit meanin's in the original Latin. In subsequent centuries, the English wirdcommonwealth cam tae be uised as a translation ores publica, an its uise in English wis comparable tae hoo the Romans uised the termres publica.[5] Notably, durin The Protectorate o Oliver Cromwell, the wirdcommonwealth wis the maist common ane tae caw the new monarchless state, but the wirdrepublic wis also commonly uised as weel.[6]
Whilst the philosophical terminology wis developed in Clessical Greece an Roum, asAristotle already notit, there wis already a lang history o city-states wi a wide variety o constitutions, no just in Greece but in theMiddle East as weel. Efter the clessical period, durin theMiddle Ages, mony free ceeties developed again, sic asVenice.
Sin the Age o Revolution, the termrepublic haes described a system o govrenment whaur the source o authority for the govrenment is a constitution[7], an the legitimacy o its offeecials comes fae the consent o the fowk raither than fae heredity or divine richt.[8]
The Modren kind of republic itsel is different frae ony kind of republic in the clessical warld.[9] Naetheless, there are a nummer o states frae the clessical era that are still cried republics the day. O thaim, there are ancientAthens and the Roman Republic. Whilst the structur an govrenance o thae states wis different frae ony modren republic, there’s debate aboot hou far clessical, medieval, an modren republics can be seen as pairt o a historical continuum. J. G. A. Pocock has argued that a clear republican tradeetion stretches frae the clessical warld tae the present.[10][11] Some scholars dinnae agree. Paul Rahe, for instance, argues that the clessical republics haed a form o govrenment wi few links tae thae in ony modren kintra.[12]
The poleetical philosophy o the clessical republics has influenced republican thocht throuoot the subsequent centuries. Philosophers an politeecians advocatin for republics, sic as Machiavelli,Montesquieu, Adams, anMadison, relied heichly on clessical Greek an Roman soorces that described various types o regimes.
Aristotle'sPolitics discusses various kinds o govrenment. Ane o thaim, Aristotle namesPoliteia, which was makit up o the ither forms, Oligarchy anDemocracy. He argued that this wis ane o the ideal forms o govrenment. Polybius expanded on mony o thir ideas, again focusin on the idea o mixed govrenment an differentiated basic forms o govrenment atween "benign"monarchy, aristocracy, an democracy, an the "malignant" tyranny, oligarchy, an ochlocracy. The maist important Roman wark in this tradeetion is Cicero'sDe re publica.
Ower time, the clessical republics becam empires or were conquered by empires. Maist o the Greek republics were annexed tae the Macedonian Empire oAlexander. The Roman Republic expanded dramatically, conquerin the ither states o the Mediterranean that could be considered republics, sic as Carthage. The Roman Republic itsel then becam the Roman Empire.
The wirdRepublic isnae aften uised to refer to ony pre-clessical city-states, particularly if ootside Europe and the aurie which wis under Greco-Roman influence[10] Hooiver, some early states ootside Europe haed govrenments that are the day aften thocht o as similar tae republics.
A republic disnae ayeweys hiv a constitution, but it's afttimes constitutional fur the reason that the government vailyies Constitutionalism - that is tae say, there are institutions whilk set furth a sinderin o pouers. The phraseconstitutional republic is used tae hauk the attention tae this division o pouers in sic a republic, juste asconstitutional monarchy orabsolute monarchy maks plain whether a monarchy is rule‑boond or fullyautocratic.
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