republican principles
Representative government values
Republican principles are the foundational ideas of republican government—rule through elected representatives rather than monarchs, with power derived from citizens rather than hereditary right.
Core tenets include popular sovereignty, separation of powers, and civic virtue.
In American history, republican principles often invokes the ideals of the founding era: limited government, individual liberty, and resistance to tyranny.
Not to be confused with the platform of the Republican Party, though the terms overlap in political rhetoric.
- popular sovereigntyPopulace holds ultimate authority
- consent of the governedRulers need citizen approval
- civic virtueDevotion to community welfare
- common goodBenefit shared by all
- civic dutyObligation owed to community
citizenship · American Revolution · social contract · natural rights · representative democracy · limited government · separation of powers · checks and balances · Federalist Papers · constitutionalism · Athenian democracy · bicameral legislature · public service · equality before the law · public trust · electoral systems · freedom of speech · term limits
republican principlesmonarchism
Advocacy for royal sovereignty
royalism · hereditary rule · divine right of kings · dynastic succession · feudalism
republican principlesautocracy
Rule by one
absolutism · despotism · tyranny · authoritarianism · dictatorship
republican, republic, republics, republicanism, principle, principles, principled, unprincipled, principal