What is a Republican Form of Government?

Republican governments exist when governmental leaders are changed out through an election or appointment process, as opposed to serving for life as a monarch. There are several main types of republican governments that I want to take a look at.

The first being a constitutional republic. This is where the head of state only has certain powers granted to it by a constitution and most of the nation’s citizens have the right to vote. In a democratic republic, everyone, all the citizens of that country, are said to have an equal say in that government and most of the citizens, again, have the right to vote.

In a parliamentary republic, there is both an elected head of state and an elected head of government. The elected head of state mostly serves as a figurehead, whereas the elected head of government holds most of the country’s executive powers.

A federal republic is when states are joined together by a republican form of government, as is the case in the U.S. An Islamic republic is when the republic is governed according to Islamic law, such as in Afghanistan.

Finally, a socialist republic is when the country says to be a country for the people, but there actually is no election process, such as in China. Those are a few main forms of republican governments.