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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 reconstruction. 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, and the compromise between democracy and having an herditary head of state would be called Constitutional Monarchy . In antiquity A number of cities of the Levant achieved collective rule. Arwad has been cited as the first 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 know 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 in 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 shift 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 . 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 Islam knew a new impulse, leading to several Islamic Republic 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. REFERENCES AND NOTES |
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