Republicanism and self-government

Authors

  • Ricardo Cueva Fernández

Keywords:

Republicanism, democracy, liberalism, self-government

Abstract

Republicanism is an ancient self-government model. It arose in the Greek polis, surviving through the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. From then on it was supportive of the birth of liberalism, as seen in Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. However, with the appearance of colonial assemblies in NorthAmerica, democracy became a new model for self-government which was better adapted to liberal ideas. Neo-republicanism, the political trend arising in the 80’s of the 20th century, tries to develop an alternative to classical republicanism. It allows for design of public policies, but it can not function as its predecessor in relation to being a model for self-government, since in present times it is not possible to maintain values or status systems from ancient societies.