I've had many episodes where I've talked about a country being a republic.

In fact, we often use the word, but many people have a mistaken idea about what exactly a republic is.

So, what is a republic, and how does it differ from a monarchy or other forms of government.

What many people think a republic is isn't necessarily wrong but it isn't exactly right.

Learn more about monarchies and republics and the differences between them on this episode of Everything

Everywhere Daily. The concept of a republic was talked about more The time. The Romans fought and struggled for centuries to create and keep a republic before they eventually lost it.

And of course, Plato's great work is called The Republic.

In the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, in Europe there were small city-state republics like Venice and Genoa, which were situated between larger kingdoms, duchies, and empires.

So what exactly is a republic? Many people think that a republic is just another name for a democracy.

However, this isn't exactly the case. While most republics are democracies, not all of

them are. Likewise, some countries which are not republics are democracies.

The English word republicic comes from the Latin phrase Res Publica, which simply means a public matter.

And the Latin comes from the ancient Greek politya,

which roughly means the rights of citizens.

The term Res Publica was first used in its modern context

by Renaissance writer Leonardo Bruni to describe systems of government

that were not monarchies. So what then is a monarchy? Well that concept is pretty simple.

Basically in a monarchy you have a single ruler. The person could be a king like in Spain, a queen like in Britain, an emperor like in Japan, a sultan like in Brunei, a prince like in Liechtenstein, a Duke like in Luxembourg, or a Pope like in Vatican City.

Historically, most states were monarchies.

There was some chieftain king or warlord who ruled over a group of people.

Their rules and customs might have been different,

but the defining characteristic was a single person calling the shots.

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