By republic we mean any country or a state that is not under the rule of a monarch, the rulers are not selected because of their heredity. The people select and can impact government decisions. A republic has a head of state called a president and a parliament that is selected by the people. There can be various forms of republics for example constitutional republic, parliamentary republic, federal republic, Islamic republic, People’s Republic and democratic republic.
A republic is the form of government in which a nation is ruled by representatives elected by its general public. The term is used in context with a form of government in which the leader is elected for a specific tenure, abiding by the laws and rules of the constitution of that particular nation. A country or state which is a republic has a political order in which the head of state is usually a president, and not a monarch.
In a republic, the greatest and ultimate power rests with the citizens of that particular country. The citizens have the power to elect their representatives as leaders or heads of the state. The appointed representatives are responsible for the citizens who have elected them. The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin words 'res publica' (res means things and publica means public). It means that in a republic form of governance, politics is a public thing and not a private matter which was the norm in monarchy.
A republic means a form of government that is maintained by a state or a country. A republican government is based on the sovereignty of popular consent and it is also based on the popular representation and control. In many republican countries the head of the state is known as the president, in democratic republics the head of the state is elected via the result of the election poll.
If the head of the state is also the head of the government, such a system is called presidential system, the other system which is known as the Semi Presidential system does not include the same head as the head of the government.
The United State of America comes under the presidential system. In countries like San Marino and Switzerland the head of a state is not a single person but an entire council or committee of several members.
