People's Republic of Tyranny: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|'''Sir Humphrey''': East Yemen, isn't that a democracy?
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In [[Real Life]] it's odd that westerners associate the word "republic" with democracy. It didn't have that meaning originally and now we've got ''these'' guys using the name! <ref>It may be because it is a relatively recent, but increasingly popular, invention in [[Real Life]]. A government that claims to be democratic, even when it's not, ''is implicitly agreeing that democracy is a good thing''... or maybe just recognizes that ''others'' think that democracy is a good thing and is blending in for political camouflage.</ref>
Note that "socialist republic" and "people's republic" are terms that communist countries use to describe themselves and communism.
A form of [[Newspeak]]. A subtrope of [[Super Happy Fun Trope of Doom]]. Definitely [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]] if you can. Given [[Secret Police|what these governments]] [[State Sec|tend to have at their disposal]], that's a big "if." It is often headed by [[The Generalissimo]], or/and [[Just the First Citizen]]. If they go so far as to have "elections", see [[Corrupt Politician]].
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* In one episode of ''[[QI]]'', Jimmy Carr joked that countries describing themselves as 'the Democratic Republic of...' rarely live up to their name. Conversely, a country describing itself as 'the Fascist Junta' should be respected for its honesty.
* In ''30Rock'', Jack refers to [[San Francisco]] as "The People's Gaypublic of Drugafornia".
* Possible aversion on ''[[Angel]]''
* ''[[24]]'': The Islamic Republic of Kamistan has the trope averted: they are a functioning democracy, albeit one plagued by instability (making them sort of a stand-in for [[Pakistan]] since Musharraf's resignation).
* In ''[[The Prisoner]]'', the Village is allegedly run by the Citizens' Council (which is always referred to by the administration as "''your'' Citizens' Council"), and the various Number Twos are always quick to loudly proclaim the Village's democratic nature. In reality, the Citizens' Council is a bunch of brainwashed mental vegetables who rubber-stamp whatever the current Number Two says and the post of Number Two itself is seen filled by a rigged election whose results are overturned as soon as they no longer serve the purposes of the Village's true rulers.
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== Video Games ==
* The Commonwealth in ''[[Red Faction|Red Faction II]]''. A commonwealth being essentially a republic, this one is nevertheless ruled by a dictator{{spoiler|, then by another after a coup}}. The player can remedy this.
* An in-joke revolving around ''[[Myst|Uru: Ages Beyond Myst]]'' is that
* The Democratic Republic of Sahrani from ''[[Arm A]] : Armed Assault''. Also, [[Ruritania|Chernarus]] from ''[[Arm A]] II'' is a former bearer of this trope (and a certain political faction wants to return the country to that state).
* ''[[Fallout 3]]'' has The Republic Of Dave, which teeters on this trope. It's not too bad a place, but President Dave will have visitors shot if they don't adress him properly, legalised presidental bigamy so he could have another wife, teaches incorrect facts in school, and has convinced everyone he is the only viable candidate, so even though they hold regular elections, they only have one choice, unless the player passes a speech check to convince them otherwise. The place used to be the Kingdom of Ted before Dave ousted his father in a coup, believing that a republic is better. If his son, Bob, wins the election, he will turn the place into the Empire of Bob and become isolationist. (According to background material, this same process has gone on for several generations.)
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* [[Tunisia]]'s governing party, the [[wikipedia:Constitutional Democratic Rally|Constitutional Democratic Rally]], ''was'' this... at least, until the Tunisian Revolution.
* Lest we forget the [[Algeria|People's Democratic Republic of Algeria]].
* In a complete inversion, the [[wikipedia:Democracy Index#2011 rankings|top 10 most democratic and free countries in the world]] are mostly monarchies.<ref>
** And [[Defied Trope|defied]] by several actually authoritarian monarchies such as [[wikipedia:Saudi Arabia|Saudi Arabia]], [[wikipedia:Oman|Oman]], [[wikipedia:Brunei|Brunei]], and [[wikipedia:Swaziland|Swaziland]].
* Averted with the [[Bangladesh|People's Republic of Bangladesh]], which is by most measurements considered to be a legitimate- though still somewhat corrupt- democracy.
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** Madison, Wisconsin (site of the University of Wisconsin and state capital), a VERY liberal city an otherwise somewhat conservative state (Milwaukee notwithstanding) is often called the People's Republic of Madison, a term first coined by one of the state's governors.
** An even more extreme example may be found in Texas, with the People's Republic of Austin (state capital and home of the University of Texas), a VERY liberal city located in the middle of a ''VERY'' conservative state.
* Vermont is one of the most liberal states in the Union, electing the only admitted socialist to Congress (Bernie Sanders).<ref>
* In the Australian city of Melbourne, a left leaning inner suburb Brunswick is sometimes referred to as the People's Republic of Brunswick
* Though generally played for laughs, ''[http://www.peoplesrepublicofcork.com/ The People's Republic of Cork]'' has expanded enough for T-shirts of Che Guevara to become relatively popular. The kicker is that Cork is merely a county in the south of Ireland (though it does have the second largest city in the country, discounting Belfast).
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