mixed government

Mixed government, also known as a mixed constitution, is a form of government that integrated facets of democracy, autocracy, and monarchy.

Ancient Greek philosophers

Plato divided governments into three basic types:

democracy - government by the many
autocracy - government by the few (often reffered to as government by "aristocracy")
monarchy - government by the one

He found flaws with all of them and thus concluded that none were suitable systems of government. Aristotle largely embraced Plato's ideas and in his Politics these three types are discussed in detail. Aristotle views aristocracy to be the ideal form of government but he observes that none of the three are stable and that states will cycle between the three forms in a violent and chaotic process known as the kyklos. In his Politics he lists a number of theories of how to create a stable government. One of these options is creating a government that is a mix of all three forms of government. In Aristotle the idea is only one of many and he pays only scant attention to it.

Roman Era

The ideal of mixed government was popularized by Polybius who saw the Roman Republic as a manifestation of Aristotle's theory. Monarchy was embodied by the consuls, the aristocracy by the Senate, and democracy by the elections and great public gatherings of the assemblies. Each institution compliments and also checks the others guaranteeing stability and prosperity. Polybius also describes Sparta as an earlier manifestation of this ideal. Polybius was very influential and his ideas were embraced by Cicero.

Renaissance and Enlightenment

Cicero became extremely well regarded during the Renaissance and many of his ideas were embraced. Polybius was also rediscovered and the positive view of mixed governments became a central aspect of Renaissance political science closely integrated into the developing notion of republicanism. Mixed government theories were also popular in the Enlightenment and were discussed in detail by Montesquieu. According to some scholars the notion also influenced the writers of the United States Constitution who based the idea of checks and balances upon the ancient theory.

Modern views

One school of scholarship, based mainly in the United States, felt that a mixed government was the central characteristic of a republic. According to Frank Lovett this school is largely defunct.http://www.ajps.org/articles/49.3.Lovett.ms31301