List of republics

This is a list of republics. For Antiquity (or later in the case of societies that did not refer to a Western terminology to qualify their form of government) the assessment of whether a state organisation is a republic is based on retrospective analysis by historians and political theorists. For more recent systems of government, worldwide organisations with a broad political acceptance (such as the United Nations), can provide information on whether or not a sovereign state is referred to as a republic.

List of republics by period

Antiquity

• Classical Athens (508 BC – 322 BC) under the reforms of Cleisthenes
• Various Greek city-states under Athenian influence: these loyalties and governments changed frequently (see synoecisms), and in some instances were even under the influence of Sparta without succumbing to the adoption of the government system of oligarchy
• Roman Republic (c. 509 BC – 27 BC)
• Ancient Carthage (308 BC – 146 BC)
• The Licchavis (c. 600 BC – c. 300 BC), one of the eight confederate clans of the Vajjian Confederacy:^[1][2] the city of Vaishali was the capital of the republic
• The Kurus, a clan in Iron Age Vedic India, which started in the Early Vedic period and later evolved into a republican Mahajanapada state in the Later Vedic period.

Middle Ages and Renaissance

Early modern

19th century

20th century

21st century and later

• East Timor (since 2002)
• Samoa (since 2007)
• Nepal (since 2008)
• Republic of Kosovo (since 2008)
• South Sudan (since 2011)

List of republics by type

In modern usage, a republican form of government is applied loosely to any state which claims this designation.^[10] So for example the Dominican Republic under Rafael Trujillo is considered a republic, as is the Republic of Iraq under Saddam Hussein and The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under Joseph Stalin. The Kingdom of Sweden (which in 2006 ranked highest in the Economist's index of democracy) ^[11] is not a republic, but the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (which ranks lowest in the same survey) is.

Unitary republics

Unitary republics are unitary states which are governed constitutionally as one single unit, with a single constitutionally created legislature.

Federal republics

Federal republics are federal states in which the administrative divisions (states or provinces) theoretically retain a degree of autonomy which is constitutionally protected, and cannot be revoked unilaterally by the national government.

Confederal republics

Confederal republics are associations of sovereign states, usually having power over critical common issues such as defense and foreign affairs:

• Confederate States of America (1861–1865)
• United States of America (under the Articles of Confederation, 1776–1789)
• Senegambia Confederation (1982–1989)

Arab Republics

• Arab Republic of Egypt
• Syrian Arab Republic
• United Arab Republic (1958–1971)
• Yemen Arab Republic (1962–1990)

Islamic Republics

Republics governed in accordance with Islamic law:

• Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
• Islamic Republic of Pakistan (since 1956)
• Islamic Republic of Iran (since 1979)
• Islamic Republic of Mauritania (since 1960)

Democratic Republics

These are republics that use the word "democratic" in their official name. Their actual political systems can vary considerably.

Socialist Republics

These are republics that use the word "socialist" in their official name.

• Socialist People's Republic of Albania (1976–1990)
• Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011)
• Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1960–1990)
• Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
• Socialist Republic of Vietnam
• Socialist Republic of Romania (1965–1989)
• Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1963–1992)
• Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)

People's Republics

People's republics were meant to be governed by the people, but the name is most often (but not always) used by communist states.

• People's Democratic Republic of Algeria^[26]
• People's Republic of Bangladesh^[27]
• People's Republic of China^[28]
• Lao People's Democratic Republic^[29]
• Democratic People's Republic of Korea^[30]

Former People's Republics:

See also

• Republicanism
• Paritätische Reichsstadt

References

Further reading

• Robinson, E. W. (1997). The First Democracies: Early Popular Government Outside Athens. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 3-515-06951-8. 

External links

• Media related to Republics at Wikimedia Commons