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Res publica (also spelled rēs pūblica to indicate vowel length) is a Latin phrase, loosely meaning 'public affair'. It is the root of the word 'republic', and the word 'commonwealth' has traditionally been used as a synonym for it; however, translations vary widely according to the context. 'Res' is a nominative singular Latin noun for a substantive or concrete thing—as opposed to 'spes', which means something unreal or ethereal—and 'publica' is an attributive adjective meaning 'of or pertaining to the public, people'. Hence a literal translation is, 'the public thing, affair' or 'the people's thing, affair'. The Latin term res publica was incompatible with the idea of absolute power by any individual or group over the body of citizens. The most essential characteristic of a res publica was liberty (libertas), which meant freedom from the arbitrary control of another and the absence of a monarchical domination over the body politic, that was analogous to the absolute power of a master over a slave.
In ancient Rome
= Public property
=Res publica usually is something held in common by many people. For instance a park or garden in the city of Rome could either be 'private property' (res privata), or managed by the state, in which case it would be part of the res publica.
= The state or commonwealth
=Taking everything together that is of public interest leads to the connotation that the 'res publica' in general equals 'the state'. For Romans, the state equaled the Roman Empire and all its interests, so Res Publica may also refer to the Roman Empire as a whole, regardless of whether it was governed as a republic or under imperial reign. In this context, scholars suggest commonwealth as a more accurate and neutral translation of the Latin term, as it implies neither republican governance nor imperial rule, but rather refers to the state as a whole. However, translating res publica as 'republic' when it clearly refers to the Roman Empire under Imperial reign sometimes occurs (see quotes below).
= The Roman Republic
=Roman authors would use the phrase res publica in the context of the era when Rome was governed as a republic: the era between the Roman Kingdom and Roman Empire. So in this case, res publica does distinctly not refer to the Roman Empire, but to what is generally described as the Roman Republic.
= Public affairs or institutions
=Res publica could also be used in a generic meaning, referring to "public affairs" and/or the general system of government of a state. In this usage res publica translated the Greek concept politeia (which originally meant the state organisation of a city-state). Also, for a Roman politician engaging himself in the res publica, a translation can often be the even more generic "being occupied in politics".
= Other uses
=Even when limited to its "political" connotations, the meanings of the term res publica in ancient Rome are diverse and multi-layered, and differing from the Greek politeia in many ways (that is: from the several interwoven meanings the word politeia had). However, it is also the customary Latin translation of politeia; the modern name of Plato's The Republic comes from this usage.
In some contexts the "state organisation system" meaning of res publica derives into something like "constitution", although "constitution", properly speaking, is a much more modern concept. Ancient Romans would use the expression "Twelve Tables" instead of res publica, when referring to their constitution at the time of the "republic", and the "inalterable laws installed by the divine Augustus", for their equivalent of a constitution in the era of the early Empire.
After the Roman Empire collapsed in the West, the idea of res publica disappeared, as foreign to the barbarians of the Migrations Period: whenever Gregory of Tours refers to res publica, it is the Eastern Empire of which he is speaking.
= Quotations
=The translations of the quotations below are copied without alteration from existing non-copyrighted material. Other translations might differ, but they all serve to illustrate the many aspects of the res publica concept in ancient Rome. The Latin original texts are given concurrently with the translations, in order to show that only the context of the text allows to interpret the res publica concept in each instance.
From these examples it also follows that probably there was also a gradual shift of meaning of the res publica concept throughout the Roman era: the "(Roman) Republic" connotation of res publica is something that rather occurs with retrospect to a closed period (so less appararent in Cicero's time, who never knew the era of the Emperors, and could only compare with the epoch of the Kings); on the other hand the translation of the Greek "politeia" concept appears to have nearly completely worn off in late antiquity.
Cicero
Cicero's De re publica (this translates as "about the res publica"), a treatise of the 1st century BC in Socratic dialogue format, takes the res publica as its subject. The differing interpretations and translations of the title of that work are discussed in the "De re publica" article. The expression res publica is used several times throughout the work too. The quotes below aim at demonstrating that within any translation of Cicero's work differing English translations of the term res publica need to be used, according to context, in order to make sense. The quotes are taken from the Latin text at "The Latin Library" (chapter numbering follows this text), from C. D. Yonge's translation at gutenberg.org (2nd column) and from Francis Barham's translation at "The Online Library of Liberty" (3rd column).
When Cicero refers to the Greek authors (pointing at the "politeia" concept):
When pointing at the Roman context:
The translation shows that the meaning of res publica can differ even within the same paragraph...
Pliny the Elder
When Pliny dedicates his Naturalis Historiae to his friend Emperor Vespasian in the first century, he uses the word res publica (Latin from LacusCurtius website / 1601 Philemon Holland translation from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/holland/index.html / 1855 John Bostock translation from the Perseus website):
When under an Emperor, that is Vespasian or his predecessors, Pliny was not talking about the Roman Republic, but used "commonwealth"/"republic" in the meaning of "the state". The ambiguity of Rome still considering itself formally, or just "pro forma", a republic throughout the era of the principate, when a monarchic rule had already de facto been established, adds to the complexity of translating "res publica" in this context.
Tacitus
As another example of the complexities of the meaning of the word res publica one can cite Tacitus, who in the early 2nd century described in his Annals how the first Emperors, like Tiberius in the year Augustus had died (AD 14), sought to preserve all institutions of the Res publica completely intact (Latin and translation as available at the Perseus Project):
... while Tacitus complained in the same writing that at the same time the res publica went astray for good because not a single soul seemed to care any more:
The least that can be said is that the two quotes above (like so many passages in Tacitus' writings) are a translator's minefield:
In the first quote above Tacitus qualifies the res publica he intends as "vetus" (the "old" res publica) - which implies he knows another, not "old", "re(s)public(a)", while Tacitus' dense writing style would usually avoid redundancies. Nonetheless in the second quote, actually preceding the first in the text of the Annals, "res publica" does not have such qualifier, while in the context it is clear he meant the then lost republican form of government.
"imperandi", litt. "to command", is translated as "being emperor" - while the "emperor" concept (which in fact did not yet literally exist in the time Tacitus describes here, and so could not be assigned to Tiberius as an intention) was usually indicated as "princeps" by Tacitus.
"tribunicia potestas" is translated as "title of Tribune", while the "tribunicia potestas" is more about exercising the power of a tribune without actually being a Tribune, and had been an invention of Caesar Augustus (compare to Holland and Bostock translations for the same concept in the Pliny quote above: "sacred authoritie of the Tribunes" and "the tribunate", respectively).
Nonetheless it can only be admired in Tacitus how, with some judicially chosen words, he most poignantly and to the point describes the transition from "(overdue) remnants of the republic" to "actual Imperial reign, already established in the minds of people".
In his book Germania, Tacitus also uses res publica in the context of the Germanic "barbarian" society. Here the word is used to convey the generic meaning of "public affair" or "the commonwealth" (in contrast to the private or family life) without the Roman connotations of republicanism. This is illustrated in the following text (Latin text and English translation from the Perseus Project):
Augustine
Augustine of Hippo uses the word res publica several times throughout his work The City of God, in which he comments, in the early 5th century on several Greek and Roman authors. Again, the standard translations of the expression "res publica" are multiple throughout the work. Examples taken from the Latin text at "The Latin Library", English translation from the version available at "New Advent"
Meaning "the (Roman) state" in general:
Note that in this quote Augustine does not use the expression imperium Romanum ("the Roman empire") as a synonym to "the era when Rome was governed by emperors". Compare also to the 2nd quote from Tacitus above: there an expression different from res publica and imperium Romanum is used for referring to "the (Roman) State" in general.
Meaning "the Roman Republic" as era with a distinct form of state organisation, from the same book:
Calques
Later calques of Res publica:
Commonwealth (English – 2nd meaning as indicated above)
chose publique (French)
cosa pubblica (Italian)
Rzeczpospolita (Polish)
Civitas
Public
Notes
References
A Latin Dictionary – Founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary, revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten by Charlton T. Lewis, and Charles Short. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879. Various 20th and 21st century re-publications under ISBN 0-19-864201-6.
ResPublica (from the Latin phrase, res publica, meaning 'public thing' or 'commonwealth') is a British independent public policy think tank, founded in 2009, by Phillip Blond. It describes itself as a multi-disciplinary, non-party political research organisation, whose aim is the creation of bold solutions for enduring socioeconomic problems.
ResPublica's ideas are founded on the principles of a post-liberal vision of the future, which moves beyond the traditional political dichotomies of left and right, prioritising the common good.
History
David Cameron, then the Leader of the Opposition, spoke at ResPublica's launch in 2009 and, at that time, Philip Blond was said to be a major influence on him.
Phillip Blond is Director of ResPublica. Until 2017, Max Wind-Cowie was Deputy Director for ResPublica North.
In 2011, ResPublica was forced to make staff redundant after financial troubles resulted in their inability to pay their rent for a time. Philip Blond was later criticised in the media over claims he 'raided' the coffers of his own think tank to pursue a jet-set lifestyle.
ResPublica was operated by a company called The ResPublica Trust, which entered insolvent administration in February 2019. The assets were bought by The Respublica Partnership Limited in a pre-packaged insolvency.
Notable publications
ResPublica's report "To Buy, To Bid, To Build: Community Rights for an Asset Owning Democracy", launched on 15 November 2010, listed strategies for privatisating underperforming public sector built assets. Greg Clark MP, Minister of State for Decentralisation at the Department for Communities and Local Government, spoke at the launch, which was hosted at NESTA with the support of the Development Trusts Association.
As part of the report 'The Community Renewables Economy', ResPublica submitted evidence to the Energy and Climate Change Committee's Local Energy consultation, and to the Department of Energy and Climate Change's (DECC) Community Energy call for evidence.
In November 2013, the motion "to move that this House takes note of the July 2013 report of ResPublica 'Holistic Mission: Social Action and the Church of England'", which was proposed by the then Lord Bishop of Leicester, Tim Stevens, was debated in the House of Lords.
In July 2014, ResPublica's report 'Virtuous Banking: Restoring ethos and purpose to the heart of finance' was launched at the Financial Times by Sir Richard Lambert, Chair of the Banking Standards Review council. The report featured proposals for a 'Bankers' Oath', which was widely reported in the media.
In September 2014, ResPublica launched 'Devo Max - Devo Manc', serving as a roadmap for devolution for Greater Manchester with greater control over finances and an elected mayor. With the signing of the Devolution to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority agreement in November 2014, these changes were adopted by the government and the Combined Authority.
In February 2015, ResPublica published 'Restoring Britain's City States: Devolution, public service reform and local economic growth' at the UK Devolution Summit, jointly hosted by ResPublica and The Core Cities.
In November 2015, ResPublica's interim report 'The Care Collapse: The imminent crisis in residential care and its impact on the NHS' was released (followed up by 'Care After Cure: Creating a fast track pathway from hospitals to homes'), which projected that the loss of care home beds would cost the NHS £3 billion. Later, the government released further funds for the sector in the 2015 Autumn Statement.
Funding
In 2018, before its reorganisation in 2019, ResPublica was rated as 'broadly transparent' in its funding by Transparify. In November 2022, the funding transparency website Who Funds You? gave ResPublica an E grade, the lowest transparency rating (rating goes from A to E).
See also
List of think tanks in the United Kingdom
One-nation conservatism
Red Tory
Blue Labour
References
External links
Official website