Government

==== Republics ====
{{Main|Republic}}

A republic is a form of government in which the country is considered a "public matter" ({{lang-la|res publica}}), not the private concern or property of the rulers, and where offices of states are subsequently directly or indirectly elected or appointed rather than inherited. The people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people.{{sfn|Montesquieu|1748|loc=book 2, chapters 1}}<ref name="Britannica">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Republic |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2022}}<!--Author? Edition?--></ref>

A common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of state is not a monarch.<ref name="WordNet">{{Cite journal |title=republic |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/republic |url-status=live |journal=WordNet 3.0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090312065659/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/republic |archive-date=12 March 2009 |access-date=20 March 2009}}</ref><ref name="M-W">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Republic |encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/republic |access-date=14 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162708/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/republic |archive-date=12 June 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Montesquieu]] included both [[democracy|democracies]], where all the people have a share in rule, and [[aristocracy|aristocracies]] or [[oligarchy|oligarchies]], where only some of the people rule, as republican forms of government.{{sfn|Montesquieu|1748|loc=book 2, chapters 2–3}}

Other terms used to describe different republics include [[democratic republic]], [[parliamentary republic]], [[semi-presidential republic]], [[presidential republic]], [[federal republic]], [[people's republic]], and [[Islamic republic]].