Dictadura, democracia, república: Un análisis conceptual

Abstract

[ES] En este ensayo se analizan los tres conceptos de democracia, dictadura y república, los nexos conceptuales y las implicaciones que los asocian, así como las relaciones entre esas nociones y otras afines, como las de monarquía (antítesis de república) y las de monocracia y policracia (antítesis de democracia). Este análisis muestra que tales conceptos son escurridizos, susceptibles de graduaciones y de difícil aplicabilidad a los casos concretos de la vida política, no suministrando criterios precisos o definitivos para clasificar a los sistemas políticos. Tras analizar las notas del concepto de democracia, se examinan los vínculos entre democracia y república para, finalmente, analizar los conceptos opuestos de dictadura, despotado, tiranía y régimen totalitario.

[EN] Dictatorship, democracy, republic: A conceptual analysis This essay goes into the three concepts of democracy, dictatorship and republic, their conceptual ties and the logical implications binding them as well as the relationships between those notions and other akin to them such as those of monarchy (antithesis of republic) and those of monocracy and polycracy (antithesis of democracy). Such concepts being slippery, open to degree variations and hard to apply to concrete cases of political life, they fail to yield reliable criteria enabling us to precisely classify political systems. Once the notes of the concept of democracy have been analyzed, the paper goes into the links between democracy and republic and ends up analysing the opposite concepts of dictatorship, despotic rule, tyranny and totalitarian regime.