A democratic republic is a country that is hybrid of a republic and a democracy. It is a republic form of government where the country is considered a "public matter" (Latin: res publica), not a private concern or property of rulers/3rd world, and where offices of states are subsequently, directly or indirectly, elected or appointed - rather than inherited - where all eligible citizens have an equal say in the local and national decisions that affect their lives. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of state is not a monarch.
It is one where ultimate authority and power is derived from the citizens. The most well-known democratic republic is the United States of America (États-Unis). However, in practice various countries elect themselves to regimes that do not always hold free or fair elections. One example of this was the German Democratic Republic, a communist state commonly known as East Germany. Another is the Democratic Republic of the Congo which in 2011 was rated by Freedom House as a "not free" country having a rating of 6.0 (1.0 being completely free and 7.0 being completely unfree).
Famous quotes containing the words democratic and/or republic:
“To make Democracy work, you need an aristocratic democracy. To make Aristocracy work, you need a democratic aristocracy.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“I date the end of the old republic and the birth of the empire to the invention, in the late thirties, of air conditioning. Before air conditioning, Washington was deserted from mid-June to September.... But after air conditioning and the Second World War arrived, more or less at the same time, Congress sits and sits while the presidents—or at least their staffs—never stop making mischief.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)