Quoting Graywolf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> I think a republic does not have to be a democracy. A democracy on the
> other hand pretty much has to be a republic if it is the government of much
> more than a town. The way we elect the president in the US is diffinately
> not a democratic process.
As Frank noted, a nation with a government elected by the people
("democracy") may still have a monarch as head of state and therefore not be
a republic.
I agree with you, though, that a republic doesn't have to be a democracy.
There are, and historically have been, an awful lot of nations out there
with "republic" in the official name whose governments aren't elected.
So it seems that the working definition that would explain what's actually
out there (rather than ideals based on original definitions) would be that in
a democracy ("democratic nation" would probably be a better term but it's not
what's usually used), the citizens elect the government; in a republic the
head of state is not a monarch (doesn't matter for this definition whether
the head of state is also head of government). There's a lot of overlap (many
nations are democratic republics) some nations are one but not the other and
a few are neither.
ERNR
