Republicanism
Republicanism is a philosophy that begins with Plato's Socratic dialogue, Republic. The modern variety of republicanism incorporates additional ideas, some derived from a belief in the old Republics of Rome and the philosophy of the Enlightenment. The Republic revolves around the idea of a free body politic. The implications of a free republic is the idea of participatory and active citizens. The original republics and those dating from the 11/12th century Renaissance Italy e.g. Florence and Venice were small, self-governing cities/communities. The Republic was in essence a type of indirect democracy, where citizens elect representatives instead of governing themselves. The key theorists on republican democracy were Machiavelli (in The Discourses) and Locke (in the Two Treatises of Government).
In modern times Republicanism has been simplified, so that Republican holds the belief that the best form of government is a republic as opposed to a monarchy. Unlike proponents of democracy, socialism, or communism, modern republicans rarely argue on the basis of universal principles that a republic is the best form of government in all nations. Rather republicanism is generally a local political movement that argues for the abolition of the monarchy in a particular nation. Because most monarchs in constitutional monarchies have limited power, arguments over republicanism in the late 20th and early 21st century are more often about symbolism than about actual transfers of power.
The term republic most commonly means the system of government in which the head of state is elected for a limited term, as opposed to a constitutional monarchy. Republicanism in this sense is support for the abolition of constitutional monarchies. This definition is particularly appropriate in countries such as Australia, where the abolition of the monarchy is a major political issue, and other Commonwealth nations such as Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica and Barbados. In these countries, republicanism is largely about the post-colonial evolution of their relationships with the United Kingdom. Even in the United Kingdom, where there has never been much popular support for republicanism, it nonetheless commands a significant minority position. There, however, it's motivated more by the decreased popularity of the Royal Family as well as the classical argument against monarchy versus the egalitarian aspects of republicanism.
Republican movements have been successful in France, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Ethiopia, China and Russia. In the case of Italy and Greece, the abolition of the monarchy was intended because the monarchy had become discredited for cooperations with Mussolini in the former case, and the Greek generals in the latter.
In the case of Russia and Ethiopia, the overthrow of the monarchy was in the context of a general Marxist revolution.
Spain has been a rare example in which a monarchy has been restored in the 20th century.
Republicanism in the United States
According to the older definition of the term, the United States of America is a republic, not a democracy. (Although most people, including most Americans, call it a democracy, they are using the modern definition, not the older one referred to here). This usage of the term republic was particularly common around the time of the American Founding Fathers. In contrast to the "Confederation" under the Articles of Confederation, the authors of the U.S. Constitution intentionally chose what they called a republic for several reasons. For one, it is impractical to collect votes from every citizen on every political issue. In theory, representatives would be more well-informed and less emotional than the general populace. Furthermore, a republic can be contrived to protect against the "tyranny of the majority." The Federalist Papers outline the idea that pure democracy is actually quite dangerous, because it allows a majority to infringe upon the rights of a minority. By forming what they called a Republic, in which representatives are chosen in many different ways (the President, House of Representatives, Senate, and state officials are all elected differently), it is more difficult for a majority to control enough of the government to infringe upon a minority. (On an unrelated note, Republicanism can also mean the doctrines of the Republican Party).
Republicanism in Ireland
Historically, the term "republican" in Ireland to those Irish nationalists who sought the overthrow, rather than gradual end, of British rule, who proclaimed the Irish Republic (not to be confused with the Republic of Ireland) in 1919. Fianna Fáil, one of the main political parties in the Republic, refers to itself as 'the Republican Party'. Under Eamon De Valera, it sought to sever independent Ireland's remaining links with the British Crown, and the establish a republic, which finally occurred in 1949.
In Northern Ireland, the term is now used to refer to nationalist groups such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Irish National Liberation Army, the Real IRA and the political parties Sinn Féin, and the Irish Republican Socialist Party, some of whom support violence as a means of establishing a republic (in the more common sense) encompassing the whole of the island of Ireland.
This is in contrast to constitutional nationalist groups such as the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). During the decades of The Troubles the constitutional nationalists have had more support than the republicans among the minority Catholic electorate. With the recent, albeit shaky, development of a peace process, Sinn Féin's move away from violence has resulted in increased support and in the recent elections they received slightly more votes than the SDLP.
Republicanism in Australia
The Australian version of republicanism concerns the transition from being a constitutional monarchy to having formal independence, signified by replacing the Queen with an Australian Head of State. Some republicans are less concerned about the philosophy of republicanism, believing that their country is in practice, republican and independent already, whereas others argue for reforms that provide independence in conjunction with greater application of republican principles, such as popular sovereignty. Australians rejected a republican proposal at referendum in 1999. The final outcome of this transition may have implications for Canada and New Zealand.
Republicanism in Canada
William Lyon Mackenzie advocated the creation of a Canadian republic during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion and, after the defeat of his uprising in Toronto, established a provisional government for the Republic of Canada on Navy Island. The Patriotes Rebellion in Lower Canada is also thought to have been republican in nature. (see also Rebellions of 1837). The British government's Durham Report in the aftermath of the rebellions led to the introduction of responsible government thus quelling republican sentiment by giving settlers in what became the United Province of Canada more rights while retaining British rule and eventually leading to Canadian confederation.
Latent republican sentiment remained a factor in Quebec where Henri Bourassa and other nationalists opposed British imperialism and advocated Canadian independence from the British Empire in response to the Boer War and, later, the Conscription Crisis of 1917 during the First World War. Republican sentiment became more prominent with the rise of the Quebec nationalist movement in the 1960s with the demands for an independent republic of Quebec put forward by both the Front de libération du Québec which advocated violent methods and the parliamentary Quebec indépendentistes who formed the Parti Québécois. Queen Elizabeth's royal visit to Quebec City in 1964 provoked a militant anti-monarchist and Quebec nationlist demonstration which was put down by police with 36 arrests and scores of injuries in what is remembered as samedi de la matraque (truncheon Saturday). Support for the monarchy remains weakest in Quebec to this day.
Simultaneously, the idea of a Canadian republic where the Queen would be replaced by an elected head of state gathered strength in English Canada among those who saw the abandonment of what was seen as the vestiges of colonialism as both a means of stengthening national unity between English and French-Canadians and as a means of asserting Canadian sovereignty and nationhood. The Toronto Star, English Canada's largest circulation daily newspaper first endorsed the creation of a Canadian republic in the late 1960s. While the idea of a republic was a minor issue during the Canadian Constitutional negotiations of the 1970s, when a new Constitution was agreed to in 1982 it included a provision requiring unanimous consent of the federal government and all ten provincial governemnts before any change could be implemented to the status of the monarchy. This was agreed to by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as a concession to his two closest allies among the provincial premiers, William Davis and Richard Hatfield, both of whom were fervent monarchists. As a result it is constitutionally more difficult to remove the monarchy in Canada than it is in any other Commonwealth realm including the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, support for a republic has grown in Canada in recent years with senior Canadian Cabinet ministers such as John Manley and Brian Peckford expressing their republican views while serving in the government of Jean Chretien and the influential Globe and Mail newspaper adopting a pro-republican editorial position in the 1990s.
Public opinion polls in Canada show that the overwhelming sentiment concerning the monarchy to be apathy and indifference. Some polls have shown a slight majority of Canadians to favour the creation of a republic but most polls suggest that the issue is a low priority among Canadians. Monarchists, traditionally, are more passionate about their advocacy for the monarchy than republicans have been in their opposition. While the Monarchist League of Canada was formed in 1971 to fight what it saw as "creeping republicanism" in the gradual removal of references to royalty and the dominion by federal institutions, it was only in the twenty first century that republicans formed their own lobby group, Citizens for a Canadian Republic.
See also
- Australian republicanism
- British republicanism
- Citizens for a Canadian Republic
- Classical definition of republic
- Irish Republicanism