Was Plato Republican?
Yes, Plato was a Republican… sort of. A lot of people think that Plato was a communist, and it is true that his first description of an ideal state greatly resembles something similar to communism (although it is barely more organized than a state of anarchy). However, Plato also makes it clear that such a state would never work. He calls such a state a “City of Pigs” and quickly dismisses it because Glaucon (i.e. ambitious people) likes relish (i.e. power and luxury). And so he develops a second “ideal state”, one that he thinks actually could work. This city has a three-tier hierarchy, including a monarch, an aristocracy and a democracy. Membership of these tiers is determined entirely by intellectual and moral merit (and btw: it also includes the abolition of slavery and the equality of women), so you could consider it a Meritocracy. However, since the system as a whole is composed of multiple interactive forms of government, it would be more accurate to say it is a Republican Mer
