Republic

A republic is a state or country that is not led by a hereditary monarch,Webster's Third New International Dictionary: "Republic: a state where the head of state is not a monarch (...)".Niccolò Machiavelli, 1532, The Prince, Chapter 1. in which the people (or at least a part of its people)Oligarchies or aristocracies are not always indicated as republics, but for instance Montesquieu in his 1748 The Spirit of the Laws (e.g. book II, 1: "a republican government is that in which the body, or only a part of the people, is possessed of the supreme power"), does have an impact on its government.e.g. Republic article in Encyclopædia BritannicaSome states, although not being led by a monarch, and having a democratic constitution, choose not to term themselves "republic". The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin res publica which can be translated as "public thing".
Both modern and ancient Republics vary widely in their ideology and composition. The most common definition of a republic is a state without a monarch,"Republic." Merriam Webster Dictionary but many historical republics contained an aristocratic class with hereditary titles and privileges. In republics such as the USA and France the executive is legitimated both by a constitution and by popular suffrage; in the United States republic refers to representative democracy as opposed to direct democracy.William R. Everdell. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. University of Chicago Press, 2000. pg. 3 In modern political science, republicanism refers to a specific ideology that is based on civic virtue and is considered distinct from ideologies such as liberalism."John W. Maynor." Republicanism in the modern world. Wiley-Blackwell, 2003.
In some republics, the impersonal nature of executive power is a legal fiction: in the Roman Republic and the Dutch Republic, the office of head of state became de facto hereditary. Others, including the historical Republic of China, did not go back to a hereditary system.
Most often a republic is a sovereign country, but there are also subnational entities that are referred to as republics. For instance the Soviet Union was composed of distinct Soviet Socialist Republics. Article IV of the constitution of the United States "guarantee[s] to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government."Constitution of the United States. He also described the governance and foundation of the ideal republic. These writings, as well as those of his contemporaries such as Leonardo Bruni, are the foundation of the ideology political scientists call republicanism.Pocock, J.G.A. The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (1975; new ed. 2003)Haakonssen, Knud. "Republicanism." A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy. Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit. eds. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995.
==Origin of the term==
The idea of a republic first appeared in the writings of Italian scholars of the Renaissance, most importantly Niccolo Machiavelli.Pocock, J.G.A. The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (1975; new ed. 2003)William R. Everdell. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. University of Chicago Press, 2000. pg. xxii - xxiii Machiavelli divided governments into two types, principalities ruled by a monarch and republics ruled by the people.Niccolò Machiavelli, 1532, The Prince, Chapter 1."Republicanism." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Mon Jun 19, 2006
In medieval Northern Italy a number of city states had commune or signoria based governments. In the late Middle Ages writers, such as Giovanni Villani, began thinking about the nature of these states and the differences from the more common monarchies. These early writers used terms such as libertas populi to describe the states. The terminology changed in the 15th century as the renewed interest in the writings of Ancient Greece and Rome caused writers to prefer using classical terminology. To describe non-monarchial states writers, most importantly Leonardo Bruni, adopted the Latin word res publica.Rubinstein, Nicolai. "Machiavelli and Florentine Republican Experience." in Machiavelli and Republicanism Cambridge University Press, 1993.
While Bruni and Machiavelli used the term to describe the non-monarchial states of Northern Italy, res publica has a set of interrelated meanings in the original Latin. The term can quite literally be translated as 'public matter.'"Republic" New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. pg. 2099 It was most often used by Roman writers to refer to the state and government, even during the period of the Roman Empire. The English word commonwealth derives from a direct translation of res publica, and its use in English is closer to how the Romans used the term res publica.Haakonssen, Knud. "Republicanism." A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy. Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit. eds. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995.
Niccolò Machiavelli defined republic in The Prince by stating that "all states, all the dominions that have had or now have authority over men have been and now are either republics or princedoms."Niccolò Machiavelli, 1532, The Prince, Chapter 1. Today the term republic still most commonly means a system of government which derives its power from the people rather than from another basis, such as heredity or divine right. This remains the primary definition of republic in most contexts. This bipartite division of government types differs from the classical sources, and also the earlier of Machiavelli's own works, which divided governments into three types, monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. As Machiavelli wrote, the distinction between an aristocracy ruled by a select elite and a democracy ruled by a council appointed by the people became cumbersome. By the time Machiavelli began work on The Prince he had decided to refer to both aristocracy and democracies as republics.William R. Everdell. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. University of Chicago Press, 2000.
A further set of meanings for the term comes from the Greek word politeia. Cicero, among other Latin writers, translated politeia as res publica and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as republic. This is not a very accurate translation and the term politeia is today usually translated as form of government or regime. One continued use of this archaic translation is the title of Plato's major work on political science. In Greek it was titled Politeia and in English is thus known as The Republic. This naming is preserved for historic reasons, but is not considered accurate. Within the text of modern translations of The Republic alternative translations of politeia are used.Bloom, Allan. The Republic. Bsic Books, 1991. pg. 439-440
In English the word first came to prominence during The Protectorate era of Oliver Cromwell.William R. Everdell. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. University of Chicago Press, 2000. pg. xxiii While commonwealth was the most common term to call the new monarchless state, republic was also in common use.William R. Everdell. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. University of Chicago Press, 2000. pg. xxiii
==History==
Until modern times, the form of government for almost all states was monarchy."Monarchy" New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005.Finer, Samuel. The History of Government from the Earliest Times. Oxford University Press, 1999. pg. 950. During the classical period the Mediterranean region was home to several states that are now known as the classical republics. Several republics also developed during the Middle Ages in the merchant dominated city states. Beginning in the 18th century larger states began becoming republics, and in the 21st century only a minority of countries are monarchies."Monarchy" New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005.
===Classical republics===
According to Wilfried Nippel, Republic itself was not a meaningful concept in the classical world.Nippel, Wilfried. "Ancient and Modern Republicanism." The Invention of the Modern Republic ed. Biancamaria Fontana. Cambridge University Press, 1994 pg. 6 There are number of states of the classical era that are today by convention called republics. These include the city states of Ancient Greece such as Athens and SpartaPaul A. Rahe, Republics, Ancient and Modern, three volumes, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1994 and the Roman Republic. The structure and governance of these states was very different from that of any modern republic.Reno, Jeffrey. "republic." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences pg. 184 There is a debate about whether the classical, medieval, and modern republics form an historic continuum."Republic" New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. pg. 2099 JGA Pocock has played a central role,"Republic" New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. pg. 2099 arguing that there is a distinct republican traditional that stretches from the classical world to the present.Pocock, J.G.A. The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (1975; new ed. 2003) Other scholars disagree."Republic" New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. pg. 2099 Paul Rahe, for instance, argues that the classical republics had a form of government with few links to those in any modern country.Paul A. Rahe, Republics, Ancient and Modern, three volumes, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1994.
The political philosophy of the classical republics has had a central influence on republican thought throughout the subsequent centuries. A number of classical writers discussed forms of government alternative to monarchies and later writers have treated these as foundational works on the nature of republics. Philosophers and politicians advocating for republics, such as Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Adams, and Madison, relied heavily on these sources. Aristotle's Politics (Aristotle) discusses various forms of government. One form Aristotle named politeia consisted of a mixture of the other forms he argued this was one of the ideal forms of government. Polybius expanded on many of these ideas, again focusing on the idea of mixed government. The most important Roman work in this tradition is Cicero's De re publica.
In the pre-modern period republics are generally considered to have been a solely European phenomena, and states in other parts of the world with similar governments are not generally reffered to as republics. "Republic" New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. pg. 2099 Some early states outside of Europe had governments that are sometimes today considered similar to republics. In the ancient Near East, a number of cities of the Eastern Mediterranean achieved collective rule. Arwad has been cited as one of the earliest known examples of a republic, in which the people, rather than a monarch, are described as sovereign.Martin Bernal, Black Athena Writes Back (Durham: Duke University Press, 2001), 359. In ancient India, a number of Maha Janapadas were established as republics by the 6th century BC.Democracy in Ancient India by Steve Muhlberger, Associate Professor of History, Nipissing University. The Israelite confederation of the era before the United Monarchy has also been considered a type of republic.William R. Everdell. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. University of Chicago Press, 2000."Republic" New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. pg. 2099
Over time the classical republics were either conquered by empires or became one themselves. Most of the Greek republics were annexed to the Macedonian Empire of Alexander. The Roman Republic expanded dramatically conquering the other states of the Mediterranean that could be considered republics, such as Carthaginian Republic. The Roman Republic itself then became the Roman Empire.
===Mercantile republics===
In Europe new republics appeared in the late Middle Ages when a number of small states embraced republican systems of government. These were generally small, but wealthy, trading states in which the merchant class had risen to prominence. Haakonssen notes that by the Renaissance Europe was divided with those states controlled by a landed elite being monarchies and those controlled by a commercial elite being republics.Haakonssen, Knud. "Republicanism." A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy. Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit. eds. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995 
Across Europe a wealthy merchant class developed in the important trading cities. Despite their wealth they had little power in the feudal system dominated by the rural land owners, and across Europe began to advocate for their own privileges and powers. The more centralized states, such as France and England, granted limited city charters. In the more loosely governed Holy Roman Empire fifty one of the largest towns became free imperial cities. While still under the dominion of the Holy Roman Emperor most power was held locally and many adopted republican forms of government.Finer, Samuel. The History of Government from the Earliest Times. Oxford University Press, 1999. pg. 950-955. The same rights to imperial immediacy were secured by the major trading cities of Switzerland. The towns and villages of alpine Switzerland had, courtesy of geography, also been largely excluded from central control. Unlike Italy and Germany much of the rural area was thus not controlled by feudal barons, but instead by independent farmers who also used communal forms of government. When the Hapsburgs tried to reassert control over the region both rural farmers and town merchants joined the rebellion. The Swiss were victorious, and the Swiss Confederacy was proclaimed, and Switzerland has retained a republican form of government to the present.William R. Everdell. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. University of Chicago Press, 2000
Italy was the most densely populated area of Europe, and also one with the weakest central government. Many of the towns thus gained considerable independence and adopted commune forms of government. Completely free of feudal control, the Italian city-states expanded, gaining control of the rural hinterland.Finer, Samuel. The History of Government from the Earliest Times. Oxford University Press, 1999. pg. 950-955. The two most powerful were the Republic of Venice and its rival the Republic of Genoa. Each were large trading ports, and further expanded by using naval power to control large parts of the Mediterranean. It was in Italy that an ideology advocating for republics first developed. Writers such as Bartholomew of Lucca, Brunetto Latini, Marsilius of Padua, and Leonardo Bruni saw the medieval city-states as heirs to the legacy of Greece and Rome.
The dominant form of government for these early republics was control by a limited council of elite patricians. In those areas that held elections, property qualifications or guild membership limited both who could vote and who could run. In many states no direct elections were held and council members were hereditary or appointed by the existing council. This left the great majority of the population without political power, and riots and revolts by the lower classes were common. The late Middle Ages saw more than two hundred such risings in the towns of the Holy Roman Empire.Finer, Samuel. The History of Government from the Earliest Times. Oxford University Press, 1999. pg. 955-956. Similar revolts occurred in Italy, notably the Ciompi Revolt in Florence.
===Protestant republics===
While the classical writers had been the primary ideological source for the republics of Italy, in Northern Europe the Protestant Reformation would be used as justification for a new set up republics.Finer, Samuel. The History of Government from the Earliest Times. Oxford University Press, 1999. pg. 1020. Most important was Calvinist theology, which developed in the Swiss Confederacy, one of the largest and most powerful of the medieval republics. John Calvin did not call for the abolition of monarchy, but he advanced the doctrine that the faithful had the right to overthrow irreligious monarchs."Republicanism." Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment pg. 435 Calvinism also espoused a fierce egalitarianism and an opposition to hierarchy. Advocacy for republics appeared in the writings of the Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion"Introduction." Republicanism: a Shared European Heritage. By Martin van Gelderen and Quentin Skinner. Cambridge University Press, 2002 pg. 1
Calvinism played an important role in the republican revolts in Britain and the Netherlands. Like the city-states of Italy and the Hanseatic League both were important trading centres, with a large merchant class prospering from the trade with the New World. Large parts of the population of both areas also embraced Calvinism. The Dutch Revolt, beginning in 1568, saw the Dutch Republic reject the rule of Hapsburg Spain in a long conflict that would last until 1648. In 1641 the English Civil War began. Spearheaded by the Puritans and funded by the merchants of London the revolt was a success, and King Charles I was executed. In England James Harrington, Algernon Sydney, and John Milton became some of the first writers to argue for rejecting monarchy and embracing a republican form of government. The English Commonwealth was short lived, and the monarchy soon restored. The Dutch Republic continued in name until 1795, but by the mid 18th century the stadholder had become a de facto monarch. Calvinists were also some of the earliest settlers of the British and Dutch colonies of North America.
===Liberal republics===
As well these initial republican revolts early modern Europe also saw a great increase in monarchial power. The era of absolute monarchy replaced the limited and decentralized monarchies that had existed in most of the Middle Ages. It also saw a reaction against the total control of the monarch as a series of writers created the ideology known as liberalism. Most of these Enlightenment thinkers were far more interested in ideas of constitutional monarchy than in republics. The Cromwell regime had discredited republicanism, and most thinkers felt that republics ended in either anarchy or tyranny."Republicanism." Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment pg. 431 Thus philosophers like Voltaire opposed absolutism while at the same time being strongly pro-monarchy.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu did praise republics, and looked on the city-states of Greece as a model, but both also felt that a nation-state like France, with 20 million people, would be impossible to govern as a republic. Rousseau described his ideal political structure of small self governing communes. Montesquieu felt that a city-state should ideally be a republic, but maintained that a limited monarchy was better suited to a large nation. The American Revolution thus began as a rejection only of the authority of the English parliament over the colonies. With the Declaration of Independence the leaders of the revolt firmly embraced republicanism. The leaders of the revolution were well versed in the writings of the European liberal thinkers, and also in history of the classical republics. John Adams had notably written a book on republics throughout history. 
The French Revolution was also not republican at its outset. Only after the Flight to Varennes removed most of the remaining sympathy for the king was a republic declared and Louis XVI sent to the guillotine. The stunning success of France in the French Revolutionary Wars saw republics spread by force of arms across much of Europe as a series of client republics were set up across the continent. The rise of Napoleon saw the end of the First French Republic, and his eventual defeat allowed the victorious monarchies to put an end to many of the oldest republics on the continent, including Venice, Genoa, and the Dutch.
Outside of Europe another group of republics was created as the Napoleonic Wars allowed the states of Latin America to gain their independence. Liberal ideology had only a limited impact on these new republics. The main impetus was the local European descended Creole population in conflict with the Peninsulares governors sent from overseas. The majority of the population in most of Latin America was of either African or Amerindian decent, and the Creole elite had little interest in giving these groups power and broad based popular sovereignty. Simón Bolívar was both the main instigator of the revolts and one of its most important theorists was sympathetic to liberal ideals, but felt that Latin America lacked the social cohesion for such a system to function and advocated autocracy as necessary. In Mexico this autocracy briefly took the form of a monarchy in the First Mexican Empire, and Brazil gained independence as a monarchy and the Empire of Brazil lasted until 1899. In the other states various forms of autocratic republic existed until most were liberalized at the end of the 20th century."Latin American Republicanism" New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005.
19th century France would see the creation of the briefly lived Second French Republic in 1848 and Third French Republic in 1871. Spain saw the briefly lived First Spanish Republic, but the monarchy was soon restored. By the start of the 20th century France and Switzerland remained the only republics in Europe. This would change in the aftermath of the [{First World War]] when several of the largest empires would collapse, being replaced by new republics. The German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russian Empire, and Ottoman Empire all collapsed and were replaced by republics. New states gained independence during this turmoil, and many of then, such as Poland and Finland, chose republican forms of government. 
Republican ideas were spreading, importantly to Asia. The United States began to have considerable influence in East Asia in the later part of the 19th century, with Protestant missionaries playing a central role. The liberal and republican writers of the west also exerted influence. These combined with native Confucian inspired political philosophy that had long argued that the populace had the right to reject unjust government that had lost the Mandate of Heaven. Two short lived republics were proclaimed in East Asia, the Republic of Taiwan and the First Philippine Republic. China had seen considerable anti-Qing sentiment, and a number of protest movements developed calling for constitutional monarchy. The most important leader of these efforts was Sun Yat-sen whose Three Principles of the People combined American, European, and Chinese ideas. The Republic of China was proclaimed on January 1, 1912.
===Communist republics===
:See also People's Republic
Communist states such as Vietnam require that their leaders adhere to that ideology and to the line of the Communist party.
===Decolonization===
The years after the Second World War saw most of the remaining European colonies gain their independence, and most became republics. The two largest colonial powers were France and the United Kingdom. Republican France encouraged the establishment of republics in its former colonies. Great Britain attempted to follow the model it had for its earlier settler colonies of creating independent commonwealth realms still linked under the same monarchy. While most of the settler colonies and the smaller states of the Caribbean retained this system, it was rejected by the newly independent countries in Africa and Asia who revised their constitutions and became monarchies. 
In the Middle East Britain followed a different model. It installed local monarchies in several colonies and mandates including Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, and Libya. In subsequent decades revolutions and coups overthrew a number of monarchs and installed republics. Several monarchies remain, and the Middle East is the only part of the world where several large states are ruled by monarchs with almost complete political control.Anderson, Lisa. "Absolutism and the Resilience of Monarchy in the Middle East." Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 106, No. 1 (Spring, 1991), pp. 1-15
===Islamic republics===
Islamic political philosophy has a long history of opposition to absolute monarchy, notably in the work of Al-Farabi. The law, sharia, took precedence over the will of the ruler, and electing rulers by means of the Shura was an important doctrine. While the early caliphate maintained the principles of an elected ruler, later states became hereditary or military dictatorships though many maintained some pretense of a consultative shura. None of these states are typically referred to as republics. The current usage of republic in Muslim countries is borrowed from the western meaning, adopted into the language in the late 19th century.Bernard Lewis. "The Concept of an Islamic Republic" Die Welt des Islams, New Series, Vol. 4, Issue 1 (1955), pp. 1-9 The 20th century saw republicanism become an important idea in much of the Middle East as monarchies were removed in many states of the region. Some such as Iraq and Turkey became secular republics. In Iran the Iranian Revolution overthrew the monarchy and created an Islamic Republic based the ideas of Islamic democracy.
==Head of state==
===Structure===
With no monarch, most modern republics use the title president for the head of state. Originally used to refer to the presiding officer of a committee or governing body in Great Britain the usage was also applied to political leaders, including the leaders of some of the Thirteen Colonies (originally Virginia in 1608); in full, the "President of the Council".OED, s. v. The first republic to adopt the title was the United States of America. Keeping its usage as the head of a committee the President of the Continental Congress was the leader of the original congress. When the new constitution was written the title of President of the United States was conferred on the head of the new executive branch. Today almost all republics use the title president for the head of state. 
If the head of state of a republic is also the head of government, this is called a presidential system. There are a number of forms of presidential government. A full-presidential system has a president with substantial authority and a central political role. The United States was the first example of such a system, and the basis for the model adopted elsewhere. In other states the legislature is dominant and the president's role is almost purely ceremonial and apolitical, such as in Germany and India. These states are parliamentary republics and operate similarly to constitutional monarchies with parliamentary systems where the power of the monarch is also greatly circumscribed. In parliamentary systems the head of government, most often titled prime minister, exercises the most real political power. Semi-presidential systems have a president as an active head of state, but also have a [[head of government with important powers. The rules for appointing the president and the leader of the government, in some republics permit the appointment of a president and a prime minister who have opposing political convictions: in France, when the members of the ruling cabinet and the president come from opposing political factions, this situation is called cohabitation. 
In some countries, like Switzerland and San Marino, the head of state is not a single person but a committee (council) of several persons holding that office. The Roman Republic had two consuls, appointed for a year. 
===Selection===
In liberal democracies presidents are elected, either directly by the people or indirectly by a parliament or council. Typically in presidential and semi-presidential systems the president is directly elected by the people, or is de facto directly elected such as in the United States. In that country the president is officially elected by the electoral college, but by convention the college directly reflects the results of the presidential election. Direct election confers legitimacy upon the president and gives the office much of its political power."Presidential Systems" Governments of the World: A Global Guide to Citizens' Rights and Responsibilities. Ed. C. Neal Tate. Vol. 4. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. p7-11. In states with a parliamentary system the president is usually elected by the parliament. This indirect elections subordinates the president to the parliament, and also gives the president limited legitimacy and turns most presidential powers into reserve powers that can only be exercised under rare circumstance. There are exceptions where elected presidents have only ceremonial powers, such as in the Republic of Ireland.
===Blurred lines===
The distinction between a republic and a monarchy are not always clear. The constitutional monarchies of the former British Empire and Western Europe today have almost all real political power vested in the elected representatives, with the monarchs only holding theoretical and rarely used reserve powers. Real legitimacy for political decisions comes from the elected representatives and is derived from the will of the people. While hereditary monarchies remain in place, political power is derived from the people as in a republic. These states are thus sometimes referred to as crowned republics.The novelist and essayist H.G.Wells regularly used the term crowned republic to describe the United Kingdom, for instance in his work A Short History of the World. Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his poem Idylls of the King. Terms such as liberal republic are also used to describe all of the modern liberal democracies.Dunn, John. "The Identity of the Bourgeois Liberal Republic." The Invention of the Modern Republic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
There are also self proclaimed republics that act similarly to monarchies with absolute power vested in the leader and passed down from father to son. North Korea and Syria are two notable examples where a son has inherited political control. Neither of these states are officially monarchies. There is no constitutional requirement that power be passed down within one family, but it has occurred in practice.
There are also elective monarchy where ultimate power is vested in a monarch, but the monarch is chosen by some manner of election. A current example of such a state is Malaysia where the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is elected every five years by the Conference of Rulers composed of the nine hereditary rulers of the Malay states. While rare today, elective monarchs were common in the past. The Holy Roman Empire is an important example, where each new emperor was chosen by a group of electors. Islamic states also rarely employed primogeniture instead relying on various forms of election to chose a monarchs successor. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had an elective monarchy, with a wide suffrage of some 500,000 nobles. The system, known as the Golden Liberty, had developed as a method for powerful landowners to control the crown. The proponents of this system looked to classical examples, and the writings of the Italian Renaissance, and called their elective monarchy a rzeczpospolita, based on res publica.
==Types of republics==
In the early 21st century, most states that are not monarchies label themselves as republics either in their official names or their constitutions. There are a few exceptions: the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Israel and the Russian Federation. Israel, Russia, and Libya would meet many definitions of the term republic, however.
Since the term republic is so vague by itself, many states felt it necessary to add additional qualifiers in order to clarify what kind of republics they claim to be. Here is a list of such qualifiers and variations on the term "republic":
* Without other qualifier than the term Republic — for example France and Turkey.
* Parliamentary republic — a republic with an elected Head of state, but where the Head of state and Head of government are kept separate with the Head of government retaining most executive powers, or a Head of state akin to a Head of government, elected by a Parliament.
* Federal republic, confederation or federation — a federal union of states or provinces with a republican form of government. Examples include Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Germany, India, Russia and Switzerland.
* Islamic Republic — Countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran are republics governed in accordance with Islamic law. (Note: Turkey is a distinct exception and is not included in this list; while the population is predominantly Muslim, the state is a staunchly secular republic.)
* Arab Republic — for example, Syria its name reflecting its theoretically pan-Arab Ba'athist government.
* People's Republic — Countries like China, North Korea are meant to be governed for and by the people, but generally without direct elections. Thus, they use the term People's Republic, which was shared by many past Communist states.
* Democratic Republic — Tends to be used by countries who have a particular desire to emphasize their claim to be democratic; these are typically Communist states and/or ex-colonies. Examples include the German Democratic Republic (no longer in existence) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
* Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita) — Both words (English and Polish) are derived from the Latin word res publica (literally "common affairs"). Used for both the current Republic of Poland, and the old Nobility Commonwealth. Apart from the Polish term, it should be noted that some subnational entities with republican governments (e.g. Virginia and Puerto Rico), as well as some sovereign monarchies (e.g. Australia and The Bahamas), also style themselves "commonwealths."
* Free state — Sometimes used as a label to indicate implementation of, or transition from a monarchical to, a republican form of government. Used for the Irish Free State (1922–1937) under an Irish Republican government, while still remaining associated with the British Empire.
* Venezuela has been using, since the adoption of the 1999 constitution, the title of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
* Other modifiers are rooted in tradition and history and usually have no real political meaning. San Marino, for instance, is the "Most Serene Republic" while Uruguay is "República Oriental", which implies it lies on the eastern bank of the Uruguay River.
===Sub-national republics===
In general being a republic also implies sovereignty as for the state to be ruled by the people it cannot be controlled by a foreign power. There are important exceptions to this, for example, Republics in the Soviet Union were member states which had to meet three criteria to be named republics:
# be on the periphery of the Soviet Union so as to be able to take advantage of their theoretical right to secede;
# be economically strong enough to be self-sufficient upon secession; and
# be named after at least one million people of the ethnic group which should make up the majority population of said republic.
Republics were originally created by Stalin and continue to be created even today in Russia. Russia itself is not a republic but a federation.
It is sometimes argued that the former Soviet Union was also a supra-national republic, based on the claim that the member states were different nations.
States of the United States are required, like the federal government, to be republican in form, with final authority resting with the people. This was required because the states were intended to create and enforce most domestic laws, with the exception of areas delegated to the federal government and prohibited to the states. The founding fathers of the country intended most domestic laws to be handled by the states, although, over time, the federal government has gained more and more influence over domestic law. Requiring the states to be a republic in form was seen as protecting the citizens' rights and preventing a state from becoming a dictatorship or monarchy, and reflected unwillingness on the part of the original 13 states (all independent republics) to unite with other states that were not republics. Additionally, this requirement ensured that only other republics could join the union.
In the example of the United States, the original 13 British colonies became independent states after the American Revolution, each having a republican form of government. These independent states initially formed a loose confederation called the United States and then later formed the current United States by ratifying the current U.S. Constitution, creating a union of sovereign states with the union or federal government also being a republic. Any state joining the union later was also required to be a republic.
==Other uses of republic==
===Political philosophy===
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The term republic originated from the writers of the Renaissance as a descriptive term for states that were not monarchies. These writers, such as Machiavelli, also wrote important prescriptive works describing how such governments should function. These ideas of how a government and society should be structured is the basis for an ideology known as classical republicanism or civic humanism. This ideology is based on the Roman Republic and the city states of Ancient Greece and focuses on ideals such as civic virtue, rule of law, and mixed government."Republicanism" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Jun 19, 2006 
This understanding of a republic as a distinct form of government from a liberal democracy is one of the main theses of the Cambridge School of historical analysis.McCormick, John P. "Machiavelli against Republicanism: On the Cambridge School's 'Guicciardinian Moments'" Political Theory, Vol. 31, No. 5 (Oct., 2003), pp. 615-643 This grew out of the work of J.G.A. Pocock who in 1975 argued that a series of scholars had expressed a consistent set of republican ideals. These writers included Machiavelli, Milton, Montesquieu, and the founders of the United States of America. Pocock argued that this was an ideology with a history and principles distinct from liberalism.Pocock, J.G.A The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition Princeton: 1975;2003 These ideas were embraced by a number of different writers Quentin Skinner, Philip PettitPhilip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, NY: Oxford U.P., 1997, ISBN 0-19-829083-7; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. and Cass Sunstein. These subsequent writers have further explored the history of the idea, and also outlined how a modern republic should function.
===United States===
A distinct set of definitions for the word republic evolved in the United States. In common parlance a republic is a state that does not practice direct democracy but rather has a government indirectly controlled by the people. In the rest of the world this is known as representative democracy. This understanding of the term was originally developed by James Madison, and notably employed in Federalist Paper No. 10. This meaning was widely adopted early in the history of the United States, including in Noah Webster's dictionary of 1828. It was a novel meaning to the term, representative democracy was not an idea mentioned by Machiavelli and did not exist in the classical republics.William R. Everdell. The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. University of Chicago Press, 2000. pg. 6
The term republic does not appear in the Declaration of Independence, but does appear in Article IV of the Constitution which "guarantee[s] to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government." What exactly the writers of the constitution felt this should mean is uncertain. The Supreme Court, in Luther v. Borden (1849), declared that the definition of republic was a "political question" in which it would not intervene. In two later cases, it did establish a basic definition. In United States v. Cruikshank (1875), the court ruled that the "equal rights of citizens" were inherent to the idea of republic. The opinion of the court from In re Duncan139 U.S. 449, (1891) held that the "right of the people to choose their government" is also part of the definition. 
Beyond these basic definitions the word republic has a number of other connotations. W. Paul Adams observes that republic is most often used in the United States as a synonym for state or government, but with more positive connotations than either of those terms.W. Paul Adams "Republicanism in Political Rhetoric Before 1776." Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 85, No. 3 (Sep., 1970), pp. 397-421 Republicanism is often referred to as the founding ideology of the United States. Traditionally scholars believed this American republicanism was a derivation of the liberal ideologies of John Locke and others developed in Europe. The political philosophy of republicanism initiated by Machiavelli was thought to have had little impact on the founders of the United States. In the 1960s and 1970s a revisionist school lead by the likes of Bernard Bailyn began to argue that republicanism was just as or even more important than liberalism in the creation of the United States.Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1967. This issue is still much disputed and scholars like Kramnick completely reject this view.Kramnick, Isaac. Republicanism and Bourgeois Radicalism: Political Ideology in Late Eighteenth-Century England and America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990.
==See also==
*List of republics
*Republicanism
==Notes and references==
==Further reading==
*Martin van Gelderen & Quentin Skinner, eds., Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage, v1, Republicanism and Constitutionalism in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 2002
*Martin van Gelderen & Quentin Skinner, eds., Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage, v2, The Values of Republicanism in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 2002
* Frédéric Monera, L'idée de République et la jurisprudence du Conseil constitutionnel — Paris: L.G.D.J., 2004 -;
Category:Forms of government
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af:Republiek
als:Republik
ang:Cyneƿīse
ar:جمهورية
an:Republica
arc:ܩܘܛܢܝܘܬܐ
ast:República
az:Respublika
bn:প্রজাতন্ত্র
zh-min-nan:Kiōng-hô-kok
ba:Республика
be:Рэспубліка
be-x-old:Рэспубліка
bs:Republika
br:Republik
bg:Република
ca:República
cv:Республика
ceb:Republika
cs:Republika
cy:Gweriniaeth
da:Republik
de:Republik
et:Vabariik
es:República
eo:Respubliko
eu:Errepublika
fa:جمهوری
fr:République
fy:Republyk
ff:Ndenndaandi
fur:Republiche
ga:Poblacht
gv:Pobblaght
gl:República
ko:공화제
hi:गणराज्य
hr:Republika
io:Republiko
id:Republik
ia:Republica
is:Lýðveldi
it:Repubblica
he:רפובליקה
jv:Républik
kn:ಗಣರಾಜ್ಯ
ka:რესპუბლიკა
sw:Jamhuri
ht:Repiblik
ku:Komar
la:Res Publica
lv:Republika
lb:Republik
lt:Respublika
li:Rippebliek
hu:Köztársaság
mk:Република
ml:ഗണതന്ത്രം
arz:جمهوريه
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nl:Republiek
nds-nl:Rippebliek
ja:共和制
no:Republikk
nn:Republikk
nrm:Républyique
nds:Republiek
pl:Republika
pt:República
crh:Cumhuriyet
ro:Republică
qu:Republika
ru:Республика
sah:Республика
sq:Republika
scn:Ripùbbrica
simple:Republic
sk:Republika
sl:Republika
szl:Rypublika
so:Jamhuriyadda
sr:Република
sh:Republika
fi:Tasavalta
sv:Republik
tl:Republika
ta:குடியரசு
th:สาธารณรัฐ
tr:Cumhuriyet
tt:Җөмһүрият
uk:Республіка
vec:Republica
vi:Cộng hòa
vo:Repüblikän
yi:רעפובליק
zh-yue:共和制
bat-smg:Respoblėka
zh:共和制