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A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a " government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, the term was used to imply a state with a democratic or representative constitution (constitutional republic), but more recently it has also been used of autocratic or dictatorial states not ruled by a monarch. It is now chiefly used to denote any non-monarchical state headed by an elected or appointed president.

, 159 of the world's 206 sovereign states use the word "republic" as part of their official names. Not all of these are republics in the sense of having elected governments, nor is the word "republic" used in the names of all states with elected governments.

The word ''republic'' comes from the Latin term ''res publica'', which literally means "public thing", "public matter", or "public affair" and was used to refer to the state as a whole. The term developed its modern meaning in reference to the constitution of the ancient Roman Republic, lasting from the overthrow of the kings in 509 BC to the establishment of the Empire in 27 BCE. This constitution was characterized by a Senate composed of wealthy aristocrats wielding significant influence; several popular assemblies of all free citizens, possessing the power to elect magistrates and pass laws; and a series of magistracies with varying types of civil and political authority.

Most often a republic is a single sovereign state, but there are also sub-sovereign state entities that are referred to as republics, or that have governments that are described as republican in nature. For instance, the United States Constitution "guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government". Another example was the Soviet Union, described by its authoritarian and extremely centralised government as being a federation of voluntarily united " Soviet socialist republics" with equal rights and an ostensibly high degree of internal autonomy. The Russian Federation is similarly a state that is composed partly of several "republics".

Etymology

The term originates from the Latin translation of Greek word ''politeia''. Cicero, among other Latin writers, translated ''politeia'' as ''res publica'' and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as "republic" (or similar terms in various European languages).

The term ''politeia'' can be translated as form of government, polity, or regime and is therefore not always a word for a specific type of regime as the modern word republic is. One of Plato's major works on political science was titled ''Politeia'' and in English it is thus known as '' The Republic''. However, apart from the title, in modern translations of ''The Republic'', alternative translations of ''politeia'' are also used.

However, in Book III of his '' Politics'', Aristotle was apparently the first classical writer to state that the term ''politeia'' can be used to refer more specifically to one type of ''politeia'': "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'')". Also amongst classical Latin, the term "republic" can be used in a general way to refer to any regime, or in a specific way to refer to governments which work for the public good.

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 writing about the nature of these states and the differences from other types of regime. They used terms such as ''libertas populi'', a free people, to describe the states. The terminology changed in the 15th century as the renewed interest in the writings of Ancient Rome caused writers to prefer using classical terminology. To describe non-monarchical states, writers (most importantly, Leonardo Bruni) adopted the Latin phrase '' res publica''.

While Bruni and Machiavelli used the term to describe the states of Northern Italy, which were not monarchies, the term ''res publica'' has a set of interrelated meanings in the original Latin. The term can quite literally be translated as "public matter"."Republic"j, ''New Dictionary of the History of Ideas''. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. p. 2099 It was most often used by Roman writers to refer to the state and government, even during the period of the Roman Empire.

In subsequent centuries, the English word "commonwealth" came to be used as a translation of ''res publica'', and its use in English was comparable 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. Notably, during The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell the word commonwealth was the most common term to call the new monarchless state, but the word republic was also in common use. p. xxiii. Likewise, in Polish the term was translated as ''rzeczpospolita'', although the translation is now only used with respect to Poland.

Presently, the term "republic" commonly means a system of government which derives its power from the people rather than from another basis, such as heredity or divine right.

History

While the philosophical terminology developed in classical Greece and Rome, as already noted by Aristotle there was already a long history of city states with a wide variety of constitutions, not only in Greece but also in the Middle East. After the classical period, during the Middle Ages, many free cities developed again, such as Venice.

Classical republics

The modern type of "republic" itself is different from any type of state found in the classical world. Nevertheless, there are a number of states of the classical era that are today still called republics. This includes ancient Athens and the Roman Republic. While the structure and governance of these states was different from that of any modern republic, there is debate about the extent to which classical, medieval, and modern republics form a historical continuum. J. G. A. Pocock has argued that a distinct republican tradition 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. 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 influenced republican thought throughout the subsequent centuries. Philosophers and politicians advocating republics, such as Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Adams, and Madison, relied heavily on classical Greek and Roman sources which described various types of regimes.

Aristotle's '' Politics'' discusses various forms of government. One form Aristotle named ''politeia'', which consisted of a mixture of the other forms. He argued that 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''.

Over time, the classical republics became empires or were conquered by empires. 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 Carthage. The Roman Republic itself then became the Roman Empire.

Other ancient republics

The term "republic" is not commonly used to refer to pre-classical city-states, especially if outside Europe and the area which was under Graeco-Roman influence. However some early states outside 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. Republic city-states flourished in Phoenicia along the Levantine coast starting from the 11th century BCE. In ancient Phoenicia, the concept of Shophet was very similar to a Roman consul. Under Persian rule (539–332 BCE), Phoenician city-states such as Tyre abolished the king system and adopted "a system of the suffetes (judges), who remained in power for short mandates of 6 years". Arwad

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