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People's Republic of Tyranny: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:rsz venn 7958.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|'''Sir Humphrey''': East Yemen, isn't that a democracy?
'''Foreign Office Official''': Its full name is the Peoples' Democratic Republic of East Yemen.
'''Sir Humphrey''': Ah I see, so it's a communist dictatorship.|'''''[[Yes Minister]]'''''}}
When [[The Empire]] tries to masquerade as [[The Federation]], it will often adopt a progressive-sounding name in the process. But often it will go overboard, unable to restrain its own sense of self-importance.
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== Real Life instances ==
* Many [[wikipedia:Communist states|Communist]] and [[wikipedia:Single-party state|single-party]] states use this trope.
** Often the words "Justice" and "Freedom" are added to the titles of the political party and government agencies.
* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, AKA [[North Korea]]. It's probably one of the best modern [[Real Life]] examples of the trope, since it includes "people's" ''and'' "democratic" in the name. Considering that recently deceased Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il, son of the first leader Kim Il-sung, has passed power down to ''his'' son Kim Jong-un, the "republic" part is also [[Hereditary Republic|rather dubious]].
** The DPRK's name is four lies for the price of one - it isn't democratic; it isn't for the people; it isn't a republic (seeing as the head of state is a dead man and the ruling family is a monarchy in all but name); and it doesn't include all of Korea, only the Northern half.<ref>(It should be noted, though, that South Korea is also guilty of that last one, being the Republic of Korea.)</ref>
** South Korea, officially the "Republic of Korea" isn't much better, and has had a history of
* The [[wikipedia:Laos|Lao People's Democratic Republic]].
* The People's Republic of [[China]], which today manages to be both a hyper-modern society and a communist single-party state. In 1949, when the Communists were deliberating over names for the new Chinese nation, they considered "People's Democratic Republic of China" until Zhou Enlai pointed out it was redundant.
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* [[Yemen]], mentioned in the page quote, was until 1990 divided into North and South, not East and West. South Yemen (formerly a British colony) was the "People's Democratic Republic of Yemen". Yes, a Communist dictatorship with Islamic flavoring.
* The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab [[wikipedia:Jamahiriya|Jamahiriya]], or [[Libya]] as it was known under the rule of the late [[Muammar Gaddafi]]. The ordinary word for republic in Arabic is "jumhuriya"; "jamahiriya" is a neologism based on pluralizing the "public" part to mean "masses," according to the link. The preferred translation is the '' Libyan Arab Islamic State of the Masses''. It's no wonder that the country was renamed to just "Libya" when the rebels took over.
* During the [[Red October|Russian Civil War]], anti-communist nationalist states added "People's" or "Democratic" to its name to distinguish themselves from the Bolshevik-backed "Soviet Socialist Republics", for example the Ukrainian and Crimean People's Republics, and the Democratic Republics of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
* The [[Useful Notes/Burma|Union of Myanmar]]: the former military junta was known as the State Peace and Development Council.
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== Real Life allusions ==
* In the United States (and sometimes other English-speaking countries as well), liberal leaning
** Cambridge, Massachusetts uses the name "People's Republic of Cambridge" in jest, sometimes in official documents. It is far from the only Massachusetts example, as Amherst [[
▲* In the United States (and sometimes other English-speaking countries as well), liberal leaning areas—''especially'' college towns—that are surrounded by conservative areas will be given the "People's Republic" label as a way of conservatives mocking liberals. In turn, said liberal areas [[Appropriated Appellation|will often start calling themselves that]]:
▲** Cambridge, Massachusetts uses the name "People's Republic of Cambridge" in jest, sometimes in official documents. It is far from the only Massachusetts example, as Amherst [[Its Pronounced Tropay|(note the silent 'h')]] is another wildly liberal victim/perpetrator (naturally, which one it is depends on who's saying it and how it's being used) of this trope.
** The Maryland town of Takoma Park (in the DC suburbs) is often called the People's Republic of Takoma Park, for things like declaring themselves a nuclear-free zone in the Eighties.
** Davis, California (home to a branch of the University of California) is yet another nuclear-free city, in spite of the nuclear reactor on the university campus; they also build toad tunnels so comrade toads aren't left out (as featured on [[The Daily Show]]). See the [http://daviswiki.org/People%27s_Republic_of_Davis PRD page] on the [[The Wiki Rule|Davis Wiki]]. After the 2011 pepper spray incident, the People's Republic of Davis title has lost much of its irony.
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[[Category:Subverted Innocence]]
[[Category:Peoples Republic Of Tyranny]]
[[Category:People's Republic of Tyranny]]
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