Classical republics and democracies contrasted W. Lindsay Wheeler
[email protected] Mar. 18, 2006 June 8, 2015 uploaded to academia.edu. Classical republics and democracy are very different forms of government. This is a study aid for those who want to understand the political science of these two government configurations. Primarily, the Greeks defined governments by their dominant factor; this article follows that custom. Throughout history these two forms of government were often confused with one another. Especially in modern times, the term "republic" has undergone a revolution within the form and is now synonymous with democracy. The table below is to show the different characteristics of each in contrast with the other so that identification can be made. This chart is based on The Classical Definition of a republic.
Name
Classical Republic
Democracy
Form
Complex or mixed
Simple
Spectrum
Golden Mean
extreme end of spectrum
Parliamentary form
Bicameral
Unicameral
# of classes
numerous; i.e. commons, aristocracy, one class royalty, serfs, etc.
Dominant factor
No dominant factor
The poor are the dominant factor
Creating Process
διoικίσμoς
synœcism
Operating principle
Rule of Law
General Will
Social distance
distinctions of rank
none or forbidden
Philosophical
δικαιος/righteousness
egalitarianism
Environment
Agrarian
Urban
Economic
sumptuary laws; restriction on commercialism
unbridled commercialism
Spirit
conservative
revolutionary
Focal point
Traditional/Custom
Popular/ progressive
Characteristics
Other names for the classical republic are "commonwealth", "limited monarchy", "mixed monarchy", "aristo-democracy", "mixed regime" or "limited democracy". In Greek literature, it is noted as πολιτεία,
μικτη πολιτεία, or μέσος πολίτης. Modern republics are not classical republics and bear hardly any similarity with the true republics of classical antiquity. The republica anglorum, i.e. the British Commonwealth, was the last of the ancient form; it ended in A. D. 1911. (For the references and justification to what the chart refers to, please see the work mentioned in the bibliography below. Much of the above is located in the “Philosophy of mixed government” section of the article.)
Bibliography Wheeler, W. Lindsay [2004] (2015) “Classical definition of a republic”. 3rd Revision. https://www.academia.edu/5280564/The_Classical_definition_of_a_republic_3rd_Rev This article was first published on Wikinfo on Mar. 18, 2006. Fred Bauder, sysop of Wikinfo, is in the process of deleting all my work at Wikinfo so this work is being transferred to academia.edu. The link of the original article is here: http://wikinfo.org/w/index.php/Classical_republics_and_democracy_contrasted. • This page was last modified on 28 August 2007, at 20:42. • This page has been accessed 1,803 times. • Effective May 27, 2009 unless some open-source license other than GNU Free Documentation License has been selected by the original author of an article all contributions to Wikinfo are considered to be released under both the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike.. • Privacy policy • About Wikinfo • Disclaimers
