Democratic republic

While not all republics are democracies, whether all democracies are republics depends on whether parliamentary monarchies are regarded as real monarchies or mere "crowned republics".

Common definitions of the terms democracy and republic often feature overlapping concerns, suggesting that many democracies function as republics, and many republics operate on democratic principles, as shown by these definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary:

• Republic: "A state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch."
• Democracy: "A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives."

Eugene Volokh of the UCLA School of Law observes that the United States exemplifies the varied nature of a constitutional republic—a country where some decisions (often local) are made by direct democratic processes, while others (often federal) are made by democratically elected representatives. As with many large systems, US governance is incompletely described by any single term. It also employs the concept, for instance, of a constitutional republic in which a court system is involved in matters of jurisprudence.

As with other democracies, not all people in a democratic republic are necessarily citizens, and not all citizens are necessarily entitled to vote. Suffrage is commonly restricted by criteria such as voting age, and sometimes by felony or imprisonment status.

History

Historically, some inconsistency around the term is frequent. Prior to the American Revolution in what is now the United States—and before the coming of age of the "crowned republics" of constitutional monarchies in the United Kingdom and other European countries—democracy and republic were "used more or less interchangeably", Founding Father John Adams (writing in 1784) described democracy as a government where: "No determinations are carried, it is true, in a simple or representative democracy, but by consent of the majority or their representatives", while he personally favoured a mixed government including elements of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy

Taiwan claims to be the oldest of Asia's democratic republics, though its recent history of democratic process is largely linked only to Taiwan. Likewise, Africa's oldest democratic republic, Liberia (formed in 1822), has had its political stability rocked by periodic violence and coups.