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In a broad definition a republic is a State or Country that is led by people who do not base their Political Power on any principle beyond the control of the people of that state or country. Several definitions, including that of the '' 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica '', stress the importance of autonomy and the rule of law as part of the requirements for a republic. Often ''republics'' and '' in the 11th chapter of that book, he points out that usual methods and distinctions are not applicable for analysing such type of state. Defining a republic as a ''non-monarchy'', the most common short definition,For instance in Webster's ''republic'' is defined as "a state where the head of state is not a monarch, and in modern times is usually a president". is based on this idea. Although largely covering what is usually understood by a republic such definition has some borderline issues, for example while the distinction between ''monarchy'' and ''republic'' was not always made as it is in modern times, while '' Oligarchies '' are traditionally considered neither ''monarchy'' nor ''republic'', and while such definition depends very much on the ''monarch'' concept, which has various definitions, not making clear which of these is used for defining ''republic''. The detailed organization of republics' governments can vary widely. The first section of this article gives an overview of the distinctions that characterise different ''types'' of non-fictional republics. The second section of the article gives short profiles of some of the most influential republics, by way of illustration. A more comprehensive where the government's Political Power depends solely on the consent, however nominal, of the people governed. Characteristics of republics Heads of state In most modern republics the Head Of State is termed President . Other titles that have been used are Consul , Doge , Knyazs , Archon and many others. In republics that are also democracies the head of state is appointed as the result of an election. This election can be indirect, such as if a council of some sort is elected by the people, and this council then elects the head of state. In these kinds of republics the usual term for a president is in the range of four to six years. In some countries the Constitution limits the number of terms the same person can be elected as president. If the head of state of a republic is at the same time the , when the members of the ruling Cabinet and the president come from opposing political factions, this situation is called Cohabitation . In countries such as Germany and India , however, the president needs to be strictly non-partisan. 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 Consul s, appointed for a year by the Senate . During the year of their consulship each consul would in turn be head of state for a month at a time, thus alternating the office of Consul Maior (the consul in power) and of Consul Suffectus (the subordinate consul who retained some independance, and held certain veto powers over the consul maior) for their joint term. Republics can be led by a head of state that has many of the characteristics of a monarch: not only do some republics install a president for life, and invest such president with powers beyond what is usual in a s were given their head of state powers gradually in a government system that in appearance did not originally much differ from the Roman Republic Tacitus , '' Ann. '' I,1-15.. Similarly, if taking the broad definition of republic above ("In a broad definition a republic is a replaced by Baudouin in 1951 under popular pressure.. The often assumed "mutual exclusiveness" of monarchies and republics as forms of government is thus not to be taken too literally, and largely depends on circumstances:
For this reason, in is treated in Republicanism . However, such theoretical approaches appear to have had no real influence on the everyday use (that is: apart from a scholar or "insider" context) of the terminology regarding republics and monarchiesReferences where in everyday language countries with a king or emperor as head of state are termed ''republic'' have not been encountered.. The least that can be said is that the opposition to the British Monarchy played an important role, as did the overthrow of the French Monarchy in the creation of the First French Republic . By the time of the creation of the Fifth Republic in that country "anti-monarchist" tendencies were barely felt. The relations of that country to other countries made no distinctions whether these other countries were "monarchies" or not. Role of religion This section draws from, among others, ''Geschiedenis der nieuwe tijden'' by J. Warichez and L. Brounts, 1946, Standaard Boekhandel (Antwerp/Brussels/Ghent/Louvain) and ''Cultuurgetijden'' (history books for secondary school in 6 volumes), Dr. J. A. Van Houtte et. al., several editions and reprints in 1960s through 1970s, Van In (Lier).Before several Reformation movements established themselves in Europe, changes in the religious landscape rarely had any relation to the form of government adopted by a country. For instance the transition from Polytheism to Christianity in Ancient Rome maybe had brought new rulers, but no change in the idea that monarchy was the obvious way to rule a country. Similarly, late Middle Age republics, like Venice , emerged without questioning the religious standards set by the Roman Catholic church.However, the Catholic Church itself briefly adopted a republican institution when it was offered by the Conciliarist movement as a solution to the Great Schism (rival papacies) during the late 14th century. The ecumenical Council of Constance in 1415 deposed three of the rival popes, elected a fourth, and extracted a promise from him that future such councils would continue to be called by future popes at regular intervals. (The Pope's concession to conciliarism did not last very long, but the English Parliament would not extract anything like it from its kings until the Puritan Revolution of the 1640s.) This would change, for instance, by the and affecting the numerous (city-)states of Germany , ordained citizens to follow the religion of their ruler, whatever Christian religion that ruler chose - apart from Calvinism (which remained forbidden by the same treaty). In France the king abolished the relative tolerance towards non-Catholic religions resulting from the Edict Of Nantes ( 1598 ), by the Edict Of Fontainebleau ( 1685 ). In the United Kingdom and in Spain the respective monarchs had each established their favourite brand of Christianity, so that by the time of The Enlightenment in Europe (including the depending Colonies ) there was not a single Absolute Monarch y that tolerated another religion than the official one of the state. Republics reducing state religion impact An important reason why people could choose their society to be organised as a ''republic'' is the prospect of staying free of in Belgium, Church Of England in the United Kingdom , Orthodoxy in Tsaristic Russia and many more examples. In absence of a monarchy, there can be no monarch pushing towards a single religion. As this had been the general perception by the time of the Enlightenment, it is not so surprising that republics were seen by some Enlightenment thinkers as the preferable form of state organisation, if one wanted to avoid the downsides of living under a too influential state religion. Rousseau, an exception, envisioned a republic with a demanding state "civil religion":
Several states that called themselves republics have been fiercely anti-religious. This is particularly true for Communist republics like the (former) Soviet Republic s, North Vietnam , North Korea , and China . Republics highlighting state religion impact Some countries or states prefer or preferred to organise themselves as a republic, ''precisely'' because it allows them to inscribe a more or less obligatory state religion in their constitution: ) that William of Orange was perceived as too lenient towards Catholicism to be acceptable as king for the Protestants., and in the Catholic Irish Republic , among others. In this case the advantage that is sought is that no ''broad-thinking'' monarch could push his citizens towards a less strict application of religious prescriptions (like for instance the Millet system had done in the Ottoman Empire Although in Turkey the ensuing ''republic'' would become relatively tolerant towards other religions, the straight Multicultural approach of the Millet system, that had allowed Christians and Jews to form state-in-state like communities, would remain unparallelled.) or change to another religion altogether (like the swapping of religions under the Henry VIII / Edward VI / Mary I / Elizabeth I succession of ''monarchs'' in England). Such approach of an ideal republic based on a consolidated religious foundation played an important role for example in the Overthrow Of The Regime of the Shah in Iran , to be replaced by a ''republic'' with influential Ayatollah s (which is the term for religious leaders in that country), the most influential of which is called " Supreme Leader ". Concepts of democracy Republics are often associated with ). This association between "republic" and "democracy" is however far from a general understanding, even if acknowledging that there are Several Forms Of Democracy See for example '' Federalist No. 10 '' by James Madison - An original framer of the U.S. Constitution advocates a ''republic'' over a ''democracy''. See Republicanism In The United States for the Connotation s of the terms "democracy" and "republic" in the 1787 context when this article was written. Further clarification of this "democracy" vs "republic" idea in the US can be found in Republicanism In The United States#A Typical Definition Of Democracy Vs Republic . This section tries to give an outline of which concepts of democracy are associated with which types of republics. As a preliminary remark it should be noted that the concept of "one equal vote per adult" did not become a genererally-accepted principle in democracies until around the middle of the depended on one's financial situation, Sex , Race , or a combination of these and other factors. Many forms of government in previous times termed "democracy", including for instance the Athenian Democracy , would, when transplanted to the early 21st Century be classified as Plutocracy or a broad Oligarchy , because of the rules on how votes were counted. In a ''Western'' approach, warned by the possible dangers and impracticality of , hence they preferred the ''less democratic'' Sparta n system of government. See also Trial Of Socrates - Laws (dialogue) ., there was a convergence towards Representative Democracy , for republics as well as monarchies, from The Enlightenment on. A direct democracy instrument like Referendum s is still basically mistrusted in many of the countries that adopted representative democracy. Nonetheless, some republics like Switzerland have a great deal of direct democracy in their state organisation, with usually several issues put before the people by referendum every year. , but connotations may varyFor instance in Pakistan the expression "basic democracy" is tied to the epoch of the military dictature.. Some of the hardline Totalitarianism lived on in the East, even after the Iron Curtain fell. Sometimes the full name of such republics can be deceptive: having "people's" or "democratic" in the name of a country can, in some cases bear no relation with the concepts of democracy (neither "representative" nor "direct") that grew in the West. It also should be clear that many of these "Eastern" type of republics fall outside a definition of a republic that supposes control over who is in power by the people at large – unless it is accepted that the preference the people displays for their leader is in all cases authentic. Influence of republicanism See Also: Republicanism Like ''Anti-monarchism'' and ''religious differences'', Republicanism played no equal role in the emergence of the many actual republics. Up to the republics that originated in the late middle ages, even if, from what we know about them, they also can be qualified "republics" in a modern understanding of the word, establishing the kind and amount of "republicanism" that led to their emergence is often limited to educated guesswork, based on sources that are generally recognised to be partly fictitious reconstructionFor example, what is known about the origins of the Roman Republic is based on works by Polybius , Livy , Plutarch , and others, all of which wrote at least some centuries after the emergence of that Republic — without exception all these authors have historical exactitude issues, including relative uncertainty over the year when the Roman Republic would have emerged.. Over time there were various mixtures of republicanism along with democratic theories of the rights of individuals, which (for instance in the Age Of Enlightenment ) would find expression in the formation of "liberal" and "socialist" parties. What both Liberalism and Socialism shared was the belief in the self-determination of peoples, and in individual human dignity. But they disagreed and continue to disagree on whether this required a republic, what is the "exact" use of the term republic, and to what degree economic liberties should be regulated. This conflict is often described in terms of Capitalism versus socialism. The compromise between democracy and having an hereditary head of state would be called Constitutional Monarchy . The ''republican'' alternative is a Constitutional Republic . There is however, for instance, no doubt that republicanism was a founding ideology of the United States Of America and remains at the core of American political values. See Republicanism In The U.S. In antiquity In Ancient India , a number of republics known as '' Maha Janapadas '' were established by the 6th Century BC . Vaishali , the earliest of these states, is considered the world's first republic. In the Ancient Near East , a number of cities of the Levant achieved collective rule. Arwad has been citedMartin Bernal, ''Black Athena Writes Back'' (Durham: Duke University Press, 2001), 359. as the other earliest known example of a republic, in which the people, rather than a monarch, are described as sovereign. The important politico-philosophical writings of Antiquity that survived the middle ages rarely had any influence on the emergence or strengthening of republics in the time they were written. When Plato wrote the Dialogue that later, in English speaking countries, became known as '' The Republic '' (a faulty translation from several points of view), Athenian democracy had already been established, and was not influenced by the treatise (if it had, it would have become ''less'' republican in a modern understanding). Plato's own experiment with his political principles in Syracuse were a failure. Cicero 's '' De Re Publica '', far from being able to redirect the Roman state to reinforce its republican form of government, rather reads as a prelude to the Imperial Form Of Government that indeed emerged soon after Cicero's death. In the renaissance The emergence of the Renaissance , on the other hand, was marked by the adoption of many of these writings from Antiquity, which led to a more or less coherent view, retroactively termed " Classical Republicanism ". Differences however remained regarding which kind of "mix" in a Mixed Government type of ideal state would be the most inherently ''republican''. For those republics that emerged after the publication of the Renaissance philosophies regarding republics, like the United Provinces Of The Netherlands , it is not always all that clear what role exactly was played by republicanism - among a host of other reasons - that led to the choice for "republic" as form of state ("other reasons" indicated elsewhere in this article: e.g., not finding a suitable candidate as monarch; anti-Catholicism; a middle class striving for political influence). Enlightenment republicanism The Enlightenment had brought a new generation of political thinkers, showing that, among other things, political ''philosophy'' was in the process of refocussing to political ''science''. This time the influence of the political ''thinkers'', like , Separation Of Church And State , etc were introduced with a certain degree of success in the new republics, along the lines of the major political thinkers of the day. In fact, the Enlightenment had set the standard for republics, as well as in many cases for monarchies, in the next century. The most important principles established by the close of the Enlightenment were The Rule Of Law , the requirement that governments reflect the Self-interest of the people that were subject to that law, that governments act in the National Interest , in ways which are understandable to the public at large, and that there be some means of Self-determination . Proletarian republicanism The next major branch in political thinking was pushed forward by Karl Marx , who argued that classes, rather than nationalities, had interests. He argued that governments represented the interests of the dominant class, and that, eventually, the states of his era would be overthrown by those dominated by the rising class of the Proletariat See for instance Marxism , Paris Commune .. Here again the formation of republics along the line of the new political philosophies followed quickly after the emergence of the philosophies: from the early 20th century on ''communist'' type of republics were set up (communist ''monarchies'' were at least ''by name'' excluded), many of them standing for about a century - but in increasing tension with the states that were more direct heirs of the ideas of the Enlightenment. Islamic Republicanism Following decolonialization in the second half of 20th century, the ''political'' dimension of the IslamThat s. As far as "Enlightenment" and "communist" principles were sometimes up to a limited level incorporated in these republics, such principles were always subject to principles laid down in the Qur'an . While, however, there is no apparent reason why Sharia and related concepts of islamic political thought should emerge in a ''republican'' form of government, the strife for Islamic republics is generally not qualified as a form of "republicanism". Economical factors The ancient concept of , nor late 19th century Catalonia , nor the Netherlands during their Golden Age emerging in the form of a republic comes as a surprise, all of them at the top of their wealth through commerce and societies with an influential and rich middle class. Here also the different nature of republics inspired by Marxism becomes apparent: Karl Marx theorised that the government of a state should be based on the proletarians, that is on those whose political opinions never had been asked before, even less had been considered to really matter when designing a state organisation. There was a problem Marxist/Communist types of republics had to solve: most proletarians were lacking interest and/or experience in designing a state organisation, even if acquainted with '' Das Kapital '' or Engels ' writings. While the ''practical'' political involvement of proletarians on the level of an entire country hardly ever materialised, these communist republics were more often than not organised in a very top-down structure. Aggregations of states When a country or state is organised on several levels (that is: several states that are "associated" in a "superstructure", or a country is split in sub-states with a relative form of independency) several models exist:
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, :1) Be on the periphery of the Soviet Union so as to be able to take advantage of their theoretical right to secede, :2) Be economically strong enough to be self sufficient upon secession, And :3) 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. States joining the union later were also required to be a republic. The United States could be argued to be a supra-national republic on the grounds that the original states were independent countries and was formed of several nations, most notably the original 13 colonies/states, the Republic of Texas , and the Kingdom of Hawaii , all of which would be considered " Nations " under a strict definition of the word. Supra-national republics Sovereign countries can decide to hand in a limited part of their sovereignty to a supra-national organisation. The most famous example of this, since the second half of the 20th century, is the emergence of the would establish its form of government as Secular After some fierce debate it was decided that the 2005 version of the Constitution proposal would not make any reference to the "Christian" roots (among other communal values) of Europe, see Art. I,2 of the European Constitution proposal .. The European Union , like the United States, is also formed by independent states creating a union, except that the member states of the European Union are not required to be a republic. The European Union currently is not classified as a country, however it is starting to exhibit behaviors similar to a State . Regardless, the European Union could still be classified as a supra-national republic even if it were to exhibit powers similar to a state because it is made of many Nations . Examples of republics See Also: List of Republics In the early 21st century the states that are not monarchies, but still don't label themselves as republics are the Libya n Arab Jamahiriya , the State of Israel , the Union Of Myanmar and the Russia n Federation . Israel and Russia, and even Myanmar and Libya, would meet many definitions of the term ''republic'', however. Republics by additional qualifier:
Republics in political theory See Also: Republics in political theory In Political Theory and political science, the term "republic" is generally applied to a State where the government's Political Power depends solely on the consent, however nominal, of the people governed. This usage leads to two sets of problematic classification. The first are states which are oligarchical in nature, but are not nominally hereditary, such as many Dictatorships , the second are states where all, or almost all, real political power is held by democratic institutions, but which have a monarch as nominal head of state, generally known as Constitutional Monarchies . The first case causes many outside the state to deny that the state should, in fact, be seen as a Republic. In many states of the second kind there are active "republican" movements that promote the ending of even the nominal monarchy, and the semantic problem is often resolved by calling the state a Democracy . Generally, political scientists try to analyse underlying realities, not the ''names'' by which they go: whether a political leader calls himself "king" or "president", and the state he governs a "monarchy" or a "republic" is not the essential characteristic, whether he exerces power as an autocrat or not is. In this sense political analysts may say that the , took more precaution in making the terms thus that also ''de facto'' (the Western part of) Germany would remain a republic. References and notes Further reading
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