Republicanism

Republicanism is a political ideology that promotes the republican system of government, in which sovereignty resides in the people and their elected representatives, as opposed to hereditary monarchy or other forms of absolute personal power. It is founded on several key principles, including civic virtue, active political participation, civic education, the fight against corruption (anti-corruption), a preference for a balanced and mixed constitution, government limited by constitutional laws, freedom as non-domination, and a commitment to the rule of law and the common good. Historically, it emphasizes the idea of self-governance and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or aristocracy to popular sovereignty. It has had different definitions and interpretations which vary significantly based on historical context and methodological approach. In countries ruled by a monarch or similar ruler, or with a monarch whose role is primarily ceremonial such as the United Kingdom, "republicanism" is simply the wish to replace the hereditary monarchy by some form of elected republic. Republicanism may also refer to the non-ideological scientific approach to politics and governance. As the republican thinker and second president of the United States John Adams stated in the introduction to his famous A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, the "science of politics is the science of social happiness" and a republic is the form of government arrived at when the science of politics is appropriately applied to the creation of a rationally designed government. Rather than being ideological, this approach focuses on applying a scientific methodology to the problems of governance through the rigorous study and application of past experience and experimentation in governance. This is the approach that may best be described to apply to republican thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli (as evident in his Discourses on Livy), John Adams, and...