Republic

A 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

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

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

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. 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.

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

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 Hooiver, some early states ootside Europe haed govrenments that are the day aften thocht o as similar tae republics.