Democracy And republic They are two forms of government often considered synonymous with each other, but in reality they are not: in fact they share the concepts of popular sovereignty and of Active participation of citizensthey can coexist, but they are not conceptually superimposable. Democracy and Republic are two forms of government which, rooted in distant eras, continue to evolve and remain at the center of today’s political discussions.
Democracy literally means “government of the people“, comes from demos which means people and krateo which means “command”. It is a form of government that was born in the 6th century AC ad Athensprovided for the active participation of the people in political and civic decisions and adherence to principles such as theequality in the face of the law (Isonomy), the freedom (Isegoria) and the equal in access to public offices (Isotimia), Cardini in modern democracies. However, the Athenian one was a “incomplete democracy“Because public life was not allowed to the totality of the people but only to male citizens, free and adults: in fact it excluded women, slaves and i metec (foreigners residing in the city). Philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle harshly criticized this form of government, believing that it could lead to decisions dictated by the “multitude” rather than by the wisdom of the rulers. Plato called her “government of the number”, while Aristotle saw her as a distortion of the politìain which the poor governs for their interest, to the detriment of the rich. At the Romans and during the Middle Ages the concept of democracy was lacking but remained in vogue that of res publicaetymologically close to today’s Republic.
There republic Instead it is a form of government that sees the concentration of power in the hands of the people or of a part of it, as in the aristocratic or oligarchic republics, and yes contrasts with the monarchy. Was born to Rome with the intent to make the “public affairs” (in Latin public res) The prerogative of all, through the participation in the political process of a representation of the various social classes. Throughout history it was the consequence of the most disparate situations: for example during the modern age, many republics develop as a reaction to the absolute monarchy, as in the case of that English with the Commonwealth or of the American Republicwhich was born after the revolution against England. The French Revolution, however, while establishing a republic, led to a Jacobin dictatorship, which shows how even in the republics there can be a dangers of concentration of power.
Currently the most common forms of republic are two, presidential And parliamentary: In the first case, a president exercises both as head of state and as head of the government, in the second case instead Parliament holds legislative power and the president has a more symbolic role. The first article of our Constitution specifies that “Italy is a democratic republic” and clearly traces the boundaries of what is our form of government: the Italian Republicin fact it is one parliamentary democracyin which sovereign power resides in the people who exercise their sovereignty through elected representatives. However, it is important to remember that the republican form itself does not necessarily imply a democratic regime, and the experiences of dictatorial regimes that have used the name of “Repubblica” demonstrate this. In short, not all republics are democratic, this is the case of aristocratic republics or dictatorialjust as not all democracies are republics, for example some constitutional monarchies.
