III.2 On the principle of the various governments
I have said that the nature of republican government is that the people as a whole, or certain families, hold the sovereign authority ; the nature of monarchical government, that the prince holds the sovereign authority, but wields it according to established laws ; the nature of despotic government, that one man governs alone according to his desires and fancies. I need no more in order to identify their three principles ; they derive from them naturally. I shall begin with the republican government, and speak first of the democratic one.