Like all forms of governments, the framework for republics is driven by historical norms and political philosophy.

Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Enlightenment thinkers from the Renaissance, and American founding fathers have greatly influenced the underlying principles of all republics.

Democracy, citizenship, distributions of powers, constitutional freedoms, popular sovereignty and universal suffrage are all pillars that have grown to define the way republican forms of government are structured.

The concept of democracy, or rule of the people, originated in Ancient Greek city-states (polis). It came hand in hand with the concept of citizenship, which wasn’t extended to all. Only free male citizens, who often amounted to less than 20% of the total inhabitants of the polis, were entitled to vote.

Citizenship entailed the provision of rights and protection, in return for allegiance to the state. Civic duties were highly valued and viewed as implicit in the quid pro quo of citizenship.

The concept of distributions of power to avoid tyranny, originates from the Roman Republic. The system of government was divided into three main branches: the Assemblies, directly elected by the people and holding the right to accept or reject laws, the magistrates, elected by the Assemblies, exercising religious, military, and judicial powers, and the Senate, which acted as a legal and advisory council.

The Roman experiment is at the root of the concept of “checks and balances”, whereby political powers should be distributed to various branches to avoid autocracy and consolidations of power by one or a few men.

This checks and balances system was deeply at the root of the US constitution, which brought about the first ever federal system.

Providing constitutional guarantees, to all religions and races, and decentralizing powers to regional governments was intended to avoid the “tyranny of the majority”, an inherent weakness in previous democracies.