People's Republic
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{{wiktionary|people's republic}}
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'''People's Republic''' (rarely '''Popular Republic''') is a title that is often used by [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] [[government]]s to describe their [[state]]. The motivation for using this term lies in the claim that Marxist-Leninists govern in accordance with [[popular sovereignty|the interests]] of the vast majority of the people, and, as such, a Marxist-Leninist republic is a ''people's'' republic. Many of these countries also called themselves [[socialist state]]s in their [[constitution]]s; [[Albania]], for instance, used both terms, "socialist" and "people's," in its official name from 1976 to 1991. Opponents of Marxism-Leninism argue that the name "people's republic" is merely used for [[propaganda]] purposes.
In [[Western world|the West]], countries governed by Marxist-Leninists are referred to as "[[Communist state]]s," though they never actually used this name for themselves and used the term '''countries of people's democracy''' (see the main article on [[communist state]]s for more information).
In the 1990s, many of the self-styled "People's Republics" of [[Eastern Europe]] ([[Poland]], [[Hungary]], and [[Bulgaria]]) and [[Mongolia]] dropped the term and became known simply as "Republics" as they adopted democratic systems of government — the term "People's Republic" being associated with the former Communist regimes.
Media and scholars may sometimes use just '''The People's Republic''' to refer to the PRC. When media cover news which is reporting about [[Cross-Strait relations]], they may sometimes use just [[The People's Republic of China|The People's Republic]] to differentiate between the [[Republic of China]] ([[Taiwan]]) and the [[People's Republic of China]] ([[Mainland China]]).
Two other current Marxist-Leninist states include the words People's Republic in their full names:
*[[North Korea]] (Democratic ''People's Republic'' of Korea)
*[[Laos]] (Lao ''People's'' Democratic ''Republic'')
Historical examples include:
*[[History of Communist Albania|People's Republic of Albania]] (1946–1976)
**[[Socialist People's Republic of Albania]] (1976–1992)
*People's Republic of [[Angola]] (1975–1992)
*People's Republic of [[Benin]] (1975–1990)
*[[Bukharan People's Soviet Republic|People's Republic of Bukhara]] (1920–1924)
*[[History of the People's Republic of Bulgaria|People's Republic of Bulgaria]] (1946–1990)
*People's Republic of the [[Republic of the Congo|Congo]] (1970–1992)
*[[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungarian People's Republic]] (1949–1989)
*[[People's Republic of Kampuchea|People's Republic of Kampuchea]] (1979–1989)
*[[Socialist Republic of Macedonia|People's Republic of Macedonia]] (1944–1991)
*[[Mongolian People's Republic]] (1924–1992)
*People's Republic of [[Mozambique]] (1975–1990)
*[[People's Republic of Poland]] (1952–1989)
*[[Communist Romania|Romanian People's Republic]] (1947–1965)
** Socialist Republic of Romania
*[[Tuvinian People's Republic]] (1921–1944)
*[[Ukrainian People's Republic]] (1917–1919)
*[[People's Democratic Republic of Yemen]] ([[South Yemen]]) (1967–1970)
*[[Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia]] (1946-1963)
**[[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]] (1963-1992)
Other titles commonly used by Marxist-Leninist states are '''Democratic Republic''' (e.g. the [[German Democratic Republic]] or the [[Democratic Federal Yugoslavia]] between 1943 and 1946), and "[[Socialist state|Socialist Republic]]" (e.g. the [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam]]).
However, neither of the two titles mentioned above, nor the term "People's Republic" itself, are ''unique'' to Marxist-Leninists. All three of them have also been used by a number of countries which are/were not Marxist-Leninist. The reason for this is the rather generic nature of the titles in question. Marxist-Leninists are by no means alone in claiming to be democratic, socialist or popular. Thus, at the present time, there are three People's Republics which do not subscribe to Marxism-Leninism:
*[[Algeria]] (''People's Democratic Republic of Algeria'')
*[[Bangladesh]] (''People's Republic of Bangladesh'')
*[[Libya]] (''Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab [[Jamahiriya]]'')
The addition of the attribute “people’s” before the term republic is redundant since republic itself means public or people’s thing in Latin. Thus a possible translation of “popular/people’s republic” would be “people’s popular dominion”. In the case of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), it would be "People’s People-ruling Popular Dominion of Korea".
==Jocular use==
The term "People's Republic" is frequently used colloquially to denote a particularly [[left-wing politics|left-leaning]] area, both as a derogatory label by opponents and proudly or ironically by inhabitants of the place. For example, [[Sheffield]] in the [[1980s]] under the rather leftist [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] administration of [[David Blunkett]] was termed the "[[People's Republic of South Yorkshire]]" by [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] MP [[Irvine Patnick]], but the term was frequently used by Labour supporters. Similarly [[Berkeley]], [[California]] and [[Cambridge]], [[Massachusetts]] in the [[United States]] are both known as "The People's Republic."
[[Category:Communist states]]
[[Category:Country name etymology]]
[[Category:Republics]]
[[bg:Народна република]]
[[cs:Lidová demokracie]]
[[de:Volksrepublik]]
[[el:Λαϊκή Δημοκρατία]]
[[fr:République populaire]]
[[he:דמוקרטיה עממית]]
[[it:Repubblica popolare]]
[[nl:Volksrepubliek]]
[[no:Folkerepublikk]]
[[pt:República popular]]
[[simple:People's Republic]]
[[sk:Ľudová demokracia]]
[[fi:Kansandemokratia]]
[[sv:Folkrepublik]]
[[zh:人民共和国]]