Republic - Wikipedia
Jump to content
Frae Wikipedia, the free beuk o knawledge
republic
is a
form o govrenment
whaur pouer is exercised bi the public in general,
an affairs o state are a concern o the public sphere (frae
Laitin
res publica
), an no privately accommodatit (like throuch
inheritance
or
divine 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 the
Empire
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.
Etymology
eedit
edit soorce
Sculpture of
Cicero
The term gangs back tae the Latin Translation o the Greek wird
politeia.
Cicero
, amang ither Latin writers, translated
politeia
intae Latin as
res publica
, an it wis syne translated by Renaissance scholars as
republic
(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 the
Roman Empire
The term
politeia
can be translated as a form o
govrenment
polity
, or regime, an it disnae necessarily imply ony specific type o regime as the modren wird
republic
sometimes dis. Ane o Plato's major warks on poleetical philosophy, usually kent in English as
The Republic
, wis titled
Politeia
. Hooiver, apairt frae the title, modren translations are generally uised
Aristotle
wis apparently the first classical writer tae state that the term
politeia
can be uised tae refer mair specifically tae ane type o
politeia
, assertin in Book III o his
Politics
: "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 term
republic
can also be uised in a general wey tae refer tae ony regime, or specifically tae governments that wirk for the public guid.
In Medieval Northren
Italy,
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 like
libertas 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 phrase
res publica
While Bruni an Machiavelli uised the term tae describe the states o Northren Italy, which warna monarchies, the term
res publica
haes a set o interrelatit meanin's in the original Latin. In subsequent centuries, the English wird
commonwealth
cam tae be uised as a translation o
res publica
, an its uise in English wis comparable tae hoo the Romans uised the term
res publica
Notably, durin The Protectorate o Oliver Cromwell, the wird
commonwealth
wis the maist common ane tae caw the new monarchless state, but the wird
republic
wis also commonly uised as weel.
History
eedit
edit soorce
Whilst the philosophical terminology wis developed in Clessical Greece an Roum, as
Aristotle
already notit, there wis already a lang history o city-states wi a wide variety o constitutions, no just in Greece but in the
Middle East
as weel. Efter the clessical period, durin the
Middle Ages
, mony free ceeties developed again, sic as
Venice
Sin the Age o Revolution, the term
republic
haes described a system o govrenment whaur the source o authority for the govrenment is a constitution
, an the legitimacy o its offeecials comes fae the consent o the fowk raither than fae heredity or divine richt.
Clessical republics
eedit
edit soorce
Main airticle:
Clessical republic
A map of the
Roman Republic
in 45 BC
The Modren kind of republic itsel is different frae ony kind of republic in the clessical warld.
Naetheless, there are a nummer o states frae the clessical era that are still cried republics the day. O thaim, there are ancient
Athens
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, an
Madison
, relied heichly on clessical Greek an Roman soorces that described various types o regimes.
Aristotle's
Politics
discusses various kinds o govrenment. Ane o thaim, Aristotle names
Politeia,
which was makit up o the ither forms, Oligarchy an
Democracy
. 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's
De 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 o
Alexander
. 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.
Ither auncient republics
eedit
edit soorce
The wird
Republic
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.
Constitution
eedit
edit soorce
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 phrase
constitutional republic
is used tae hauk the attention tae this division o pouers in sic a republic, juste as
constitutional monarchy
or
absolute monarchy
maks plain whether a monarchy is rule‑boond or fully
autocratic
References
eedit
edit soorce
"Republic"
Merriam-Webster
. Retrieved
14 August
2010
Bloom, Allan.
The Republic
. Basic Books, 1991. pp. 439–40
"Encyclopedia.com | Free Online Encyclopedia"
www.encyclopedia.com
. Retrieved
22 December
2024
Rubinstein, Nicolai (10 Januar 1991),
"Machiavelli and Florentine republican experience"
Machiavelli and Republicanism
, Cambridge University Press, pp.
3–16
, retrieved
23 December
2024
GOODIN, ROBERT E.; PETTIT, PHILIP, eds. (1995).
A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy
. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
ISBN
978-0-631-19951-9
Gerardi, Donald; Everdell, William R.
"The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans"
The History Teacher
20
(1): 148.
doi
10.2307/493212
ISSN
0018-2745
"Republic | Definition, History, & Facts | Britannica"
www.britannica.com
(in Inglis). 13 December 2024
. Retrieved
23 December
2024
"Of the Origin and Design of Government in General."
Common Sense
, Harvard University Press, pp.
3–9, 15 October 2010,
ISBN
978-0-674-27667-3
, retrieved
23 December
2024
Nippel, Wilfried (17 Mairch 1994),
"Ancient and modern republicanism: 'mixed constitution' and 'ephors
The Invention of the Modern Republic
, Cambridge University Press, pp.
6–26
, retrieved
29 December
2024
Horowitz, Maryanne Cline (2005).
The New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons. p.
2099.
ISBN
0684313774
Pocock, J. G. A. (1975).
The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition
. Princeton University Press.
ISBN
978-0-691-17223-1
"Paul A. Rahe, Republics, Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution;. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1992. Pp. xiv, 1201. $49.95"
The American Historical Review
. 1993.
doi
10.1086/ahr/98.5.1674
ISSN
1937-5239
Taen frae "
Categeries
Forms o govrenment
Republics
Republicanism
Hidden categories:
Airticles conteenin Laitin-leid text
CS1 Inglis-leid soorces (en)
Republic
Eik topic