Republicanism in Renaissance Italy
A key idea of republicanism is self-government. Republicanism was revived in renaissance Italy to fight against the right to rule of the church, and the given divine right to rule of a monarch. The term republic most commonly means the system of government in which the head of the state is elected for a limited term. However, monarchies are based on the idea that one person has the hereditary, divine right from God to rule as head of state during his or her lifetime. Republican theory holds that all people should be able to have their voices heard, whereas in a monarchy the rule comes only from one person.Republicanism emerged as a result of years under papal and monarchial rule. The people believed an independent and self-governing people, together with the rights of citizens to participate in the government and a constitutional framework assigning definite roles to various social groups, forms the basis of liberty. (Republicanism and Democracy. Overseas Young Chinese Forum) Instead of focusing on the importance of "rule by the people" and the idea of political equality, republicanism advocates self-government, mixed constitution, and the need for government that reflects the interests of "the many" (most of the people in the s
The leading families were able to create powerful groups and gain control of public office. (Najemy) A council was elected to represent, within the limits of the written constitution, the will of the majority. Republic is from the Latin res publica, which means, "that which belongs to the people". "The many" was not given the opportunity to have high political power, but there was still a legitimate government with a mixed constitution and elected officials. In most cities, there was an upsurge in the number of guilds and population during a time of vigorous social mobility; the political and institutional dimension of this social revolution, often referred to as the rise of the popolo, was firmly grounded in the principles of corporatism. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia) Republicanism has a goal of maintaining a society of civic virtue, in which people live a happy life by devoting themselves to the good of the public, and committing to their civic duties. In Florence, the politics rested on two central notions: first on the idea of the sovereign, centralizing state, the embodiment of the res publica and the locus of all political life; and, second, on the conviction that the operative components of this civil community were individual citizens to whom an equal degree of liberty was quarantined by the state and from whom the exercise of active responsibility was expected within the state. ociety), "the one" (the monarchy), and "the few" (the aristocracy). A proposition of republicanism is that government power should be derived from a great majority of the people, not from God or other supernatural forces, nor from a small group of privileged individuals; since a republican government has to be accountable to the community as a whole, its power can only be derived from the community as a whole. In Venice, the wealthy families formed the Great Council, which was approximately 2,500 men from which all of the public officers were elected. (Najemy)The political development of republicanism is significant because it showed the people of the Italian city-states a different form of government that could involve the people instead of rule by one. The republican government controlled all merchant contracts so that "the many" would prosper as well as "the few". In Florence, the Medici family dominated; who were a powerful banking family.
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