What is a republic government?

Question

I read that the Republic of Mali has a republic government. What does this mean? Can somebody briefly describe the government structure?

Answer 1

The to way the US was supposed to be.  

Answer 2

The founders of the United States of America, knew that democracies were one of the most tyrannical governments known to mankind... so what they did is they created a republic based fundamental human rights and restrictions to what government can and cannot do... The constitution outlines your basic god given rights that protects you from what the government can do and they can never take away your basic rights.... in pure democracies minorities are usually undermined heavily...

you have the right to your life liberty and pursuit of happiness (owning property)  

Answer 3

There are several different types of republics.  Usually a representative form of government, in which representatives of the people govern.  

Answer 4

To explain the difference, let's start with what a Democracy is: It's where every law put forth is voted on by everyone in the country. America is not a Democracy. Our Founders realized that a pure Democracy would quickly devolve into mob rule.

We are a Republic. We have elected representatives that know and understand the laws better and are informed of the laws better than the general public. Those elected officials are voting on those laws for us. The First Amendment to the US Constitution allows you to be able to write to your elected representative for clarification of anything you have a question on.

So, yes. In a nutshell, a Republic is where you have elected officials, while a Democracy is where you vote for every law that comes your way.

If you check out http://www.cia.gov you can download the CIA World Factbook and discover other countries and their systems of government.