I have wondered something. Why is it called a republic when it is actually an oligarchy. According to the dictionary, a republic is "a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch. However, most of the power is split between multiple queens. Can somebody explain how that makes sense?
The Gilden Republic
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TheShepard256
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That's the definition as written by the American Constitution, and it would be more accurate to say that it's the definition of a constitutional republic or representative democracy. Strictly speaking:
The gold myr queens themselves are definitely oligarchs, but each of them only has limited power within the Gilden Republic and none of them can be considered to be the head of state of the Gilden Republic as a whole, so their government is technically not a monarchy and the title of 'queen' is inaccurate by Terran standards. Chances are, their title is translated into English as 'queen' due to Terran culture's assumptions about both oligarchies (which monarchies typically are) and eusocial insects (which the gold myr kinda resemble).
With "monarchy" referring to the general concept of "one/single ruler", and more specifically to a nation having a single head of state. What few in-game insights we have into Gilden Republic politics definitely paints it as more public-oriented than privately-oriented, especially with how concerned about their citizens the queens are.Wikipedia's Republic article said:
The gold myr queens themselves are definitely oligarchs, but each of them only has limited power within the Gilden Republic and none of them can be considered to be the head of state of the Gilden Republic as a whole, so their government is technically not a monarchy and the title of 'queen' is inaccurate by Terran standards. Chances are, their title is translated into English as 'queen' due to Terran culture's assumptions about both oligarchies (which monarchies typically are) and eusocial insects (which the gold myr kinda resemble).
The same reason North Korea is called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, when it is neither democratic nor a republic :^)
Nor is it representative of its people. Hell, now I'm beginning to doubt the veracity of the "Korea" bit...
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I guess it could TECHNICALLY be a republic because the Queens actually only govern their respective cities. And when you consider the fact ant colonies are actually super-organisms where each individual animal is more like a single cell, and the gold myr cities are each ant-people colonies with every non-queen a child of one of their queens, the queens are legitimate decision-makers as the ones who produce the workforce and as mothers, they represent the interests of their children and their sisters’ children by default.
When you take all the city-states of the gold myr together with queens representing their brood, yes it’s a republic in that sense. None of the queens actually govern or “own” the whole nation; they only represent their own respective city-states and come to decisions on their own.
The game just restricts us to seeing two of their city-states with one of them occupied by red myr (who operate more like solitary ant species).
When you take all the city-states of the gold myr together with queens representing their brood, yes it’s a republic in that sense. None of the queens actually govern or “own” the whole nation; they only represent their own respective city-states and come to decisions on their own.
The game just restricts us to seeing two of their city-states with one of them occupied by red myr (who operate more like solitary ant species).
Even our own world doesn't have just one type of republic. You have:
- Presidential Republics, with an executive presidency separate from the legislature, such as the United States, most of Central and South America, parts of the Middle East and Central Africa.
- Semi Presidential System, with both an executive presidency and a separate head of government that leads the rest of the executive, who is appointed by the president and accountable to the legislature, such as Russia.
- Parliamentary system, with a ceremonial and non-executive president, where a separate head of government leads the executive and is dependent on the confidence of the legislature. Republic of Ireland and India, Germany and Finland.
- Republics with an executive presidency elected by the legislature, South Africa.
- Constitutional Monarchy, with a ceremonial and non-executive monarch, where a separate head of government leads the executive. The UK, Spain.
Beyond that, you're going into full monarchies, one party countries and military governments.
Point is, a republic isn't very specific, its an umbrella term covering quite a few different forms of government that share some key aspects.
- Presidential Republics, with an executive presidency separate from the legislature, such as the United States, most of Central and South America, parts of the Middle East and Central Africa.
- Semi Presidential System, with both an executive presidency and a separate head of government that leads the rest of the executive, who is appointed by the president and accountable to the legislature, such as Russia.
- Parliamentary system, with a ceremonial and non-executive president, where a separate head of government leads the executive and is dependent on the confidence of the legislature. Republic of Ireland and India, Germany and Finland.
- Republics with an executive presidency elected by the legislature, South Africa.
- Constitutional Monarchy, with a ceremonial and non-executive monarch, where a separate head of government leads the executive. The UK, Spain.
Beyond that, you're going into full monarchies, one party countries and military governments.
Point is, a republic isn't very specific, its an umbrella term covering quite a few different forms of government that share some key aspects.