Читать книгу American Democracy in Context - Joseph A. Pika - Страница 22

A concept that is often contrasted with democracy—and sometimes confused with it—is the republic. In the study of politics in general, a republic is simply a country not ruled by a monarch. But in the study specifically of American politics, we add another layer of meaning to the term. As you will see in Chapter 2, as the original founders of the United States considered how to design the new democracy and write its constitution, they used the term to denote government by the people’s elected representatives, who—though they are ultimately responsible to the people—rule primarily on the basis of their own intelligence and experience. So, for them, a republic was distinguished from direct democracy as well as from monarchy. We will use the term republic to mean an indirect democracy that particularly emphasizes insulation of its representatives and officials from direct popular pressure. In political rhetoric today, the term republic is often used by people who favor democracy but do not favor intense and direct popular involvement in democratic government.