What's the difference between a Democracy and a Republic?

There are many ways to describe systems of government and often terms overlap.

🇺🇸 Democracy vs Autocracy.
These terms describe the source of power for the government.
In a democracy power is vested in the people.
In an autocracy power is vested in a person.

🗳️ There are 2 types of democracy:
Direct or Pure Democracy where the people express their power through direct policy decisions.
And Representative Democracy where the people express their power through elected representatives. The most famous example of Direct Democracy is the Athenian Democracy of ancient Greece. Today, however, virtually all democratic countries are representative democracies.

👑 The 2 types of autocracies are dictatorships & absolute monarchies.
Dictatorships are characterized by a dictator who has seized power & usually does not tolerate dissent. Absolute monarchies are characterized by a monarch who usually inherits power with little to no restrictions. Current day examples of autocracies include the dictatorship of North Korea, and the absolute monarchy of Saudi Arabia.

🇺🇸 Federal State vs. Unitary State 🇬🇧
These terms describe the structure of power.
A federation is characterized by the union of partially self-governing states, provinces, or regions under a central federal government. The regional & central governments in a federation each exercise power in their own right.
A unitary state is characterized by a central government which holds supreme authority, and any regional governments are created by the central government, exercising only the powers delegated to it by the central government.

The longest surviving federation we have today is the United States.
The vast majority of countries today, however, are unitary states.

🇫🇷 Republic vs. Monarchy 🇦🇺
These terms describe the ideology of power, that is to say, the philosophy and system that binds the nation together whether actually or nominally.
In a Republic, the State is created by the people, and an elected Head of State represents the national identity.

There’s generally 3 types of Republics. Presidential, Semi-Presidential, and Parliamentary.
In a Presidential Republic, the President holds executive power separate from the legislature, as head of state and government.
In a semi-presidential system, the President as head of state holds executive power separate from the legislature, but also appoints a head of government like a prime minister, which is accountable to the legislature.
In a Parliamentary Republic, the President is a ceremonial non-executive head of state, while the executive is lead by the head of government, accountable to the legislature.

In a Monarchy, the State is created by the Monarch, and as Head of State represents the national identity. There are generally 2 types of monarchies.
Constitutional & Absolute.
Absolute monarchs hold absolute power.
Constitutional or Parliamentary monarchs are limited, many to the extent of making the role purely ceremonial. While most monarchies in history began as absolute, most monarchies today are constitutional.

[Bram]

Good video. But as a social studies teacher I want to point out two minor things. I think that your definitions for republic/monarchy is flawed. It's not about creation, simply leadership. There are republican states that were created by monarchs and vice-versa. I also think that your definition of the parliamentary system needs to include something about the supremacy of parliament or at least dualism.

[chrismcdaniel]

Both. The Constitution establishes a federal democratic republic form of government. That is, we have an indivisible union of 50 sovereign States. It is a democracy because people govern themselves. It is representative because people choose elected officials by free and secret ballot.

[oHelmy]

Woohoo!! If this existed when I was in high-school I would have aced world history!