View source for People's republic

{{short description|Title used by some republican states}}
{{about|an official title used by several countries|the state form|People's democratic state|the album by the Revolutionary Ensemble|The People's Republic (album)|the novel by Robert Muchamore|People's Republic (novel)|the current largest people's republic|China}}
[[File:People's Republics.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Map of states using the name ''people's republic'':
{{legend|FireBrick|Current}}{{legend|LightCoral|Former}}]]
{{republicanism sidebar}}
'''People's republic''' is an official title that is mostly used by current and former [[communist state]]s, as well as other [[left-wing]] governments.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/people%27s_republic|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230221217/https://www.lexico.com/definition/people%27s_republic|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 30, 2019|title=People's Republic|website=[[Oxford Dictionaries (website)|Oxford Dictionaries]]|quote=[People's Republic –] Used in the official title of several present or former communist or left-wing states.|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref> It is mainly associated with [[Soviet republic (system of government)|soviet republics]], [[communist state]]s that self-designate as [[people's democratic state]]s, [[sovereign state]]s with a [[Democracy|democratic]]-[[Republicanism|republican]] [[constitution]] that usually mentions [[socialism]], as well as some countries that do not fit into any of these categories.

A number of the short-lived socialist states that formed during [[World War I]] and [[Aftermath of World War I|its aftermath]] called themselves people's republics. Many of these sprang up in the territory of the former [[Russian Empire]], which had collapsed in 1917 as a result of the [[Russian Revolution]]. Decades later, following the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] victory in [[World War II]], the name "people's republic" was adopted by some of the newly established [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] states, mainly within the [[Soviet Union]]'s [[Eastern Bloc]].

As a term, ''people's republic'' is associated with [[List of non-communist socialist states|socialist states]] as well as [[communist countries]] adhering to [[Marxism–Leninism]], although its use is not unique to such states. A number of republics with [[liberal democratic]] political systems such as [[Algeria]] and [[Bangladesh]] adopted the title, given its rather generic nature, after popular [[wars of independence]]. Nonetheless, such countries still usually [[Socialism in liberal democratic constitutions|mention socialism in their constitutions]].{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

== Non-Marxist–Leninist people's republics ==
The collapse of the European empires during and following World War I resulted in the creation of a number of short-lived non-Marxist–Leninist people's republics during the [[revolutions of 1917–1923]]. In many cases, these governments were unrecognised and often had Marxist–Leninist rivals.

The Russian Empire produced several non-Marxist–Leninist people's republics after the [[October Revolution]]. The [[Crimean People's Republic]] was opposed to the [[Bolsheviks]] and the latter went on to capture its territory and establish the [[Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic]].<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TA1zVKTTsXUC|first=Paul R.|last=Magocsi|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2010|isbn=9781442610217|pages=545–6}}</ref> The anti-Bolshevik [[Kuban People's Republic]] was established in Russia's [[Kuban]] region and survived until the [[Red Army]] captured the area.<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QwquCgAAQBAJ|first=Jonathan D.|last=Smele|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2015|series=Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest|volume=2|isbn=9781442252813|page=636}}</ref> The socialist-leaning [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] declared its independence from the [[Russian Republic]], but it had a rival in the [[Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets]] (later the [[Ukrainian Soviet Republic]]) whom it fought during the [[Ukrainian War of Independence]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2UoQ-ueHjdEC|first1=Guntram H.|last1=Herb|first2=David H.|last2=Kaplan|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2008|isbn=9781851099085|page=713}}</ref> The [[Belarusian People's Republic]] tried to create an independent [[Belarus]]ian state in land controlled by the [[German Imperial Army]], but the [[Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia]] replaced it once the German army had left. All of these territories finally became constituent parts of the [[Soviet Union]].{{sfn|Smele|2015|page=183}}

In the former [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], the [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]] was formed in eastern [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] under the political guidance of [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church|Greek Catholic]], liberal and socialist ideologies. The territory was subsequently absorbed into the [[Second Polish Republic]].{{sfn|Smele|2015|pages=1309–1310}} Meanwhile, the [[First Hungarian Republic|Hungarian People's Republic]] was established, briefly replaced by the [[Hungarian Soviet Republic]] and eventually succeeded by the [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Kingdom of Hungary]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Fiscal Decentralization Reforms: The Impact on the Efficiency of Local Governments in Central and Eastern Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrzhDwAAQBAJ|page=73|first1=Michal|last1=Plaček|first2=František|last2=Ochrana|first3=Milan Jan|last3=Půček|first4=Juraj|last4=Nemec|publisher=Springer Nature|year=2020|volume=19|series=Public Administration, Governance and Globalization|isbn=9783030467586}}</ref>

In Germany, the [[People's State of Bavaria]] ({{langx|de|Volksstaat Bayern}}){{efn|Referred to as the [[Free People's State of Bavaria]] ({{langx|de|Freier Volksstaat Bayern}}), or later simply as ''[[Freistaat Bayern]]'' (the present-day official name of [[Bavaria]]), the name of the state has also been translated as the [[Bavarian Republic]] and the [[People's Republic of Bavaria]]. For further discussion of the terms ''[[Freistaat]]'' and ''Volksstaat'' ([[:de:Volksstaat|de]]), see [[Free state (Germany)]].}} was a short-lived socialist state and people's republic formed in [[Bavaria]] during the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919]] as an attempt to establish a socialist state to replace the [[Kingdom of Bavaria]]. Its supporters clashed with the [[Bavarian Soviet Republic]], founded five months later, before revolutionary activity was put down by elements of the [[Reichswehr|German Army]] and the paramilitary ''[[Freikorps]]''. The [[Free State of Bavaria]], a state within the [[Weimar Republic]], was then established on 15 September 1919.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Merz|first=Johannes|year=1997|url=http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/1997_1_4_merz.pdf|title='Freistaat Bayern': Metamorphosen eines Staatsnamen|journal=Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte|language=de|volume=45|pages=121–142|access-date=5 August 2020}}</ref>

During the 1960s and 1970s, a number of former colonies that had gained independence through revolutionary liberation struggles adopted the name people's republic. Examples include [[Algeria]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Meca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization, and the Third World Order|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-62NCwAAQBAJ|first=Jeffrey James|last=Byrne|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|series=Oxford studies in international history|isbn=9780199899142|page=2}}</ref> [[Bangladesh]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Institutionalization of the Parliament in Bangladesh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtNjDwAAQBAJ|first=A. T. M.|last=Obaidullah|publisher=Springer|year=2018|isbn=9789811053177|page=21}}</ref> and [[Zanzibar]].<ref>{{cite book|title=International Handbook on Civil Service Systems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vlP5tNpS1ckC|first=A.|last=Massey|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|year=2011|series=Elgar Original Reference Series|isbn=9781781001080|page=178}}</ref> [[Libya]] adopted the term{{efn|The Arabic word translated as republic is ''Jamahiriya'', a neologism widely interpreted to mean "state of the masses".}} after its [[Al Fateh Revolution]] against [[Idris of Libya|King Idris]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Libya: Continuity and Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O49hCQAAQBAJ|first=Ronald Bruce|last=St John|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|isbn=9781135036546|page=60}}</ref>

In the 2010s, Ukraine's pro-Russian separatist movements during the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]] declared the oblasts of [[Donetsk Oblast|Donetsk]] and [[Luhansk Oblast|Luhansk]] to be people's republics, but they did not receive [[diplomatic recognition]] from the international community.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/06/ukraine-rebel-peoples-republic-states|title=Ukraine's rebel 'people's republics' begin work of building new states|last=Luhn|first=Alec|newspaper=The Guardian|date=6 November 2014|access-date=17 February 2020}}</ref> In 2022 amid an ongoing [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|invasion of Ukraine]] they [[Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts|were annexed by Russia]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Trevelyan |first=Mark |date=30 September 2022 |title=Putin declares annexation of Ukrainian lands in Kremlin ceremony |work=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-declare-annexation-ukrainian-lands-major-escalation-war-2022-09-29/ |access-date=12 July 2024}}</ref>

=== List of non-Marxist–Leninist people's republics ===
Current non-Marxist–Leninist people's republics include:
* {{flagicon|Algeria}} [[People's Democratic Republic of Algeria]] (since 1962)
* {{flagicon|Bangladesh}} [[People's Republic of Bangladesh]] (since 1971)

Historical people's republics include:
* {{flag|Belarusian People's Republic}} (1918–1919; partially recognized)
* {{flagicon|Crimea|1917}} [[Crimean People's Republic]] (1917–1918; unrecognized)
* {{flag|Donetsk People's Republic}} (2014–2022; partially recognized)
* {{flagicon|Guinea}} [[History_of_Guinea#Sékou_Touré's_rule_(1958–1984)|People's Revolutionary Republic of Guinea]] (1958–1984)
* {{flag|Hungarian People's Republic (1918–19)|name=Hungarian People's Republic}} (1918–1919; unrecognized)
* {{flagicon|Korean Empire}} [[People's Republic of Korea]] (1945–1946)
* {{flagicon|Kuban}} [[Kuban People's Republic]] (1918–1920; unrecognized)
* {{flagicon|Libya|1977}} [[Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya]] (1977–2011)
* {{flag|Luhansk People's Republic}} (2014–2022; partially recognized)
* {{flag|Ukrainian People's Republic}} (1917–1921; partially recognized)
* {{flag|West Ukrainian People's Republic}} (1918–1919; joined the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]])
* {{flagicon|Zanzibar}} [[People's Republic of Zanzibar]] (1963–1964)

== Marxist–Leninist people's republics ==
{{main|People's democratic state}}
{{socialism sidebar}}
{{Marxism–Leninism sidebar}}
The first people's republics that came into existence were those formed following the [[Russian Revolution]]. [[Ukraine]] was briefly declared a people's republic in 1917.<ref>{{cite book|title=How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8C3xuqd6aMC|first=Anders|last=Åslund|publisher=Peterson Institute|year=2009|isbn=9780881325461|page=12}}</ref> The [[Khanate of Khiva]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jwNeAgAAQBAJ|first=James|last=Minahan|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=9781135940102|page=296}}</ref> and the [[Emirate of Bukhara]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Power, Networks and Violent Conflict in Central Asia: A Comparison of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vv7pAwAAQBAJ|first=Idil|last=Tunçer-Kılavuz|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|isbn=9781317805113|series=Routledge advances in Central Asian studies|volume=5|page=53}}</ref> both territories of the former [[Russian Empire]], were transformed into people's republics in 1920. In 1921, the Russian protectorate of [[Tuva]] became a people's republic,<ref>{{cite book|title=Mongolic Elements in Tuvan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zddhapKVdHMC|first=Bayarma|last=Khabtagaeva|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|year=2009|isbn=9783447060950|series=Turcologica Series|volume=81|page=21}}</ref> followed in 1924 by neighbouring [[Mongolia]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Peoples of Eastern Asia|volume=8: Mongolia–Nepal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXWjAmmZ5kMC|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|year=2004|first1=Fiona|last1=Macdonald|first2=Gillian|last2=Stacey|first3=Philip|last3=Steele|isbn=9780761475477|page=413}}</ref> Following [[World War II]], developments in [[Marxist–Leninist]] theory led to the appearance of people's democracy, a concept which potentially allowed for a route to [[socialism]] and [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] via multi-[[Social class|class]], [[Multi-party system|multi-party democracy]]. Countries which had reached this intermediate stage were called people's republics.<ref>{{cite book|title=Communism and Its Collapse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XGFAgAAQBAJ|last=White|first=Stephen|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=9781134694235|page=13}}</ref> The European states that became people's republics at this time were [[Albania]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Democratisation and Institutional Reform in Albania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5FODwAAQBAJ|first=Elvin|last=Gjevori|publisher=Springer|year=2018|isbn=9783319730714|page=21}}</ref> [[Bulgaria]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Bulgaria in British Foreign Policy, 1943–1949|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iCw2DgAAQBAJ|first=Marietta|last=Stankova|publisher=Anthem Press|year=2014|series=Anthem Series on Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies|isbn=9781783082353|page=148}}</ref> [[Czechoslovakia]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Cabinets in Eastern Europe|doi=10.1057/9781403905215_6|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|editor-first1=Jean|editor-last1=Blondel|editor-first2=Ferdinand|editor-last2=Müller-Rommel|first1=Ferdinand|last1=Müller-Rommel|first2=Zdenka|last2=Mansfeldová|chapter=Chapter 5: Czech Republic|year=2001|isbn=978-1-349-41148-1|page=62}}</ref> [[Hungary]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Labour Law in Hungary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5LZOvgEACAAJ|first=József|last=Hajdú|publisher=Kluwer Law International|year=2011|isbn=9789041137920|page=27}}</ref> [[Poland]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Legal Reform in Post-Communist Europe: The View from Within|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAiYFR0MPXgC|first1=Stanisław|last1=Frankowski|first2=Paul B.|last2=Stephan|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff|year=1995|isbn=9780792332183|page=23}}</ref> [[Romania]]<ref>{{cite book|title=NATO and Eastern Europe After 2000: Strategic Interactions with Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Bulgaria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PE_D8ZewHKQC|first=Laure|last=Paquette|publisher=Nova|year=2001|isbn=9781560729693|page=55}}</ref> and [[Yugoslavia]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Yugoslavia as History: Twice There Was a Country|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZ1x7gvwx_8C|first=John R.|last=Lampe|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2000|isbn=9780521774017|page=233}}</ref> In Asia, [[China]] became a people's republic following the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]],<ref>{{cite web|title=The Chinese Revolution of 1949|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/chinese-rev|website=Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs|publisher=United States Department of State}}</ref> and [[North Korea]] also became a people's republic.<ref>{{cite book|title=North Korea: The Politics of Regime Survival|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-EHfBQAAQBAJ|first1=Young Whan|last1=Kihl|first2=Hong Nack|last2=Kim|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|isbn=9781317463764|page=8}}</ref>

Many of these countries also called themselves ''[[List of non-communist socialist states|socialist states]]'' in their constitutions. During the 1960s, Romania and Yugoslavia ceased to use the term ''people's'' in their official names, replacing it with the term ''[[Socialist state|socialist]]'' as a mark of their ongoing political development. Czechoslovakia also added the term ''socialist'' into its name during this period. It had become a people's republic in 1948, but the country had not used that term in its official name.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Routledge Companion to Central and Eastern Europe Since 1919|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vut9AgAAQBAJ|first=Adrian|last=Webb|publisher=Routledge|year=2008|series=Routledge Companions to History|isbn= 9781134065219|pages=80, 88}}</ref> Albania used both terms in its official name from 1976 to 1991.<ref>{{cite book|title=Heads of State and Government|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0YfDgAAQBAJ|edition=2nd|first=John V|last=Da Graça|year=2000|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-1-56159-269-2|page=56}}</ref> In the West, these countries are often referred to as ''[[communist state]]s''. However, none of them described themselves in that way, as they regarded [[communism]] as a level of political development that they had not yet reached.<ref name="The Economics of Socialism after World War Two: 1945-1990">{{cite book|last=Wilczynski|first=J.|title=The Economics of Socialism after World War Two: 1945-1990|publisher=Aldine Transaction|date=2008|isbn=978-0202362281|pages=21|quote=Contrary to Western usage, these countries describe themselves as 'Socialist' (not 'Communist'). The second stage (Marx's 'higher phase'), or 'Communism' is to be marked by an age of plenty, distribution according to needs (not work), the absence of money and the market mechanism, the disappearance of the last vestiges of capitalism and the ultimate 'whithering away' of the State.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Steele|first=David Ramsay|title=From Marx to Mises: Post Capitalist Society and the Challenge of Economic Calculation|publisher=Open Court|date=September 1999|isbn=978-0875484495|page=45|quote=Among Western journalists the term 'Communist' came to refer exclusively to regimes and movements associated with the Communist International and its offspring: regimes which insisted that they were not communist but socialist, and movements which were barely communist in any sense at all.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Rosser|first=Mariana V. and J Barkley Jr.|title=Comparative Economics in a Transforming World Economy|url=https://archive.org/details/comparativeecono00jrjb|url-access=limited|publisher=MIT Press|date=23 July 2003|isbn=978-0262182348|pages=[https://archive.org/details/comparativeecono00jrjb/page/n25 14]|quote=Ironically, the ideological father of communism, Karl Marx, claimed that communism entailed the withering away of the state. The dictatorship of the proletariat was to be a strictly temporary phenomenon. Well aware of this, the Soviet Communists never claimed to have achieved communism, always labeling their own system socialist rather than communist and viewing their system as in transition to communism.}}</ref><ref name="Williams 1983 289">{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Raymond|title=Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society|edition=revised|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1983|isbn=978-0-19-520469-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/keywordsvocabula00willrich/page/289 289]|chapter=Socialism|quote=The decisive distinction between socialist and communist, as in one sense these terms are now ordinarily used, came with the renaming, in 1918, of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) as the All-Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). From that time on, a distinction of socialist from communist, often with supporting definitions such as social democrat or democratic socialist, became widely current, although it is significant that all communist parties, in line with earlier usage, continued to describe themselves as socialist and dedicated to socialism.|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/keywordsvocabula00willrich/page/289}}</ref> Terms used by communist states include ''[[National democracy (Marxism–Leninism)|national-democratic]]'', ''[[People's democracy (Marxism–Leninism)|people's democratic]]'', ''[[Socialist-leaning countries|socialist-oriented]]'' and ''workers and peasants{{'}}'' states.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nation|first1=R. Craig|title=Black Earth, Red Star: A History of Soviet Security Policy, 1917-1991|date=1992|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0801480072|pages=85–6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WK18-OoR0pIC&pg=PA85|access-date=19 December 2014}}</ref> The [[communist parties]] in these countries often governed in coalition with other [[Progressivism|progressive]] parties.<ref>{{cite book|title=Europe Since 1945: A Concise History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjpdDwAAQBAJ|first=J. Robert|last=Wegs|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|year=1996|isbn=9781349140527|pages=28–29}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

During the [[postcolonial]] period, a number of former European colonies that had achieved independence and adopted Marxist–Leninist governments took the name ''people's republic''. [[Angola]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Popular-Movement-for-the-Liberation-of-Angola|website=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}</ref> [[Benin]], [[Congo-Brazzaville]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Marxism's Retreat from Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVehCAAAQBAJ|first=Arnold|last=Hughes|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|isbn=9781317482369|pages=10–11}}</ref> [[Ethiopia]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WU92d6sB8JAC|first1=David H.|last1=Shinn|first2=Thomas P.|last2=Ofcansky|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2013|isbn=9780810874572|page=105}}</ref> [[Cambodia]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Ethnic Groups of Cambodia|isbn=9781633232327|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8TkjBgAAQBAJ|first=Joachim|last=Schliesinger|publisher=Booksmango|year=2015|volume=1: Introduction and Overview|page=75}}</ref> [[Laos]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Global Geopolitical Flashpoints: An Atlas of Conflict|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mC2AgAAQBAJ|first=Ewan W.|last=Anderson|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|isbn=9781135940942|page=194}}</ref> [[Mozambique]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Jozef|last=Wilczynski|title=An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Marxism, Socialism and Communism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFddDwAAQBAJ|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|year=1981|isbn=9781349058068|page=318}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and [[South Yemen]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Communism in History and Theory: Asia, Africa, and the Americas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K5Bxd7sq9KcC|first=Donald F.|last=Busky|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2002|isbn=9780275977337|page=73}}</ref> followed this route. Following the [[Revolutions of 1989]], the people's republics of [[Central and Eastern Europe]] (namely Albania,<ref>{{cite book|title=Europe Review 2003/04: The Economic and Business Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hwi0s3I5jLEC|publisher=Kogan Page Publishers|year=2003|isbn=9780749440671|series=World of Information|page=3}}</ref> Bulgaria,<ref>{{cite book|title=Bulgaria: The Uneven Transition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Gck5ta_DUsC|first=Vesselin|last=Dimitrov|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=9781135136772|series=Postcommunist States and Nations|page=ix}}</ref> Hungary,<ref>{{cite book|title=Language and State: An Inquiry Into the Progress of Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OW7MDgAAQBAJ|first=Xing|last=Yup|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2017|isbn=9780761869047|page=138}}</ref> and Poland<ref name="PWN_historia">{{cite encyclopedia|language=pl|contribution-url=http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=4575043|contribution=Polska. Historia|title=Internetowa encyklopedia PWN|trans-title=PWN Internet Encyklopedia|access-date=11 July 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001084717/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=4575043|archive-date=1 October 2006|title-link=Internetowa encyklopedia PWN}}</ref>), as well as [[Mongolia]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Collaborative Nationalism: The Politics of Friendship on China's Mongolian Frontier|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQLiMYUk-nIC|first=Uradyn E.|last=Bulag|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2010|isbn=9781442204331|page=65}}</ref> dropped the term ''people's'' from their names due to the term's association with their former communist governments, and became known simply as [[republics|''republic''s]], adopting [[liberal democracy]] as their system of government.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Journal of Democracy|title=Explaining Eastern Europe: The Crisis of Liberalism|date=July 2018|first=Jacques|last=Rupnik|volume=29|issue=3|pages=24–38|publisher=National Endowment for Democracy and Johns Hopkins University Press|url=https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/article/explaining-eastern-europe-crisis-liberalism|doi=10.1353/jod.2018.0042|s2cid=158078514|url-access=subscription}}</ref> At around the same time, most of the former European colonies that had taken the ''people's republic'' name began to replace it as part of their move away from Marxism–Leninism and towards [[democratic socialism]] or [[social democracy]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Sargent|first=Lyman Tower|year=2008|title=Contemporary Political Ideologies: A Comparative Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/contemporarypoli00sarg_989|url-access=limited|edition=14th|publisher=Wadsworth Publishing|page=[https://archive.org/details/contemporarypoli00sarg_989/page/n135 117]|isbn=9780495569398|quote=Because many communists now call themselves democratic socialists, it is sometimes difficult to know what a political label really means. As a result, social democratic has become a common new label for democratic socialist political parties.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lamb|first=Peter|year=2015|title=Historical Dictionary of Socialism|edition=3rd|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=415|isbn=9781442258266|quote=In the 1990s, following the collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the breakup of the Soviet Union, social democracy was adopted by some of the old communist parties. Hence, parties such as the Czech Social Democratic Party, the Bulgarian Social Democrats, the Estonian Social Democratic Party, and the Romanian Social Democratic Party, among others, achieved varying degrees of electoral success. Similar processes took place in Africa as the old communist parties were transformed into social democratic ones, even though they retained their traditional titles [...].}}</ref>

=== List of Marxist–Leninist people's republics ===
The current officially Marxist–Leninist states that use the term ''people's republic'' in their full names include:
* {{flagicon|China}} [[People's Republic of China]] (since 1949)
* {{flagicon|Laos}} [[Lao People's Democratic Republic]] (since 1975)
* {{flagicon|DPRK}} [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea]] (since 1948)

Historical examples include:
* {{flagicon|Albania|1946}} [[People's Republic of Albania]] (1946–1976) and [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania]] (1976–1991)
* {{flagicon|Angola}} [[People's Republic of Angola]] (1975–1992)
* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Democratic People's Republic of Angola.svg}} [[Democratic People's Republic of Angola]] (1975–2002; partially recognized; later abandoned marxism)
* {{flagicon|Benin|1975}} [[People's Republic of Benin]] (1975–1990)
* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic.svg}} [[Bukharan People's Soviet Republic]] (1920–1925)
* {{flagicon|Bulgaria|1971}} [[People's Republic of Bulgaria]] (1946–1990)
* {{flagicon|Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)}} [[People's Republic of the Congo (1963–1965)|People's Republic of the Congo]] (1964–1965)
* {{flagicon|Congo|1970}} [[People's Republic of the Congo]] (1969–1992)
* {{flagicon|Ethiopia|1987}} [[People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia]] (1987–1991)
* {{flagicon image|Flag of Hungary (with Kádár coat of arms).svg}} [[Hungarian People's Republic]] (1949–1989)
* {{flagicon image|Flag of Inner-Mongolian Autonomous Government.svg}} [[Inner Mongolian People's Republic]] (1945)
* {{flagicon|Cambodia|1979}} [[People's Republic of Kampuchea]] (1979–1989)
* {{flagicon image|Flag of Khiva 1920-1923.svg}} [[Khorezm People's Soviet Republic]] (1920–1925)
* {{flagicon|North Korea}} [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea]] (1948–1992/2009){{efn|Although the government's official ideology is now the ''[[Juche]]'' part of the [[Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism]] policy of [[Kim Il Sung]] as opposed to orthodox [[Marxism–Leninism]], it is still considered a [[socialist state]]. In 1992, all references to Marxism–Leninism in the [[Constitution of North Korea]] were dropped and replaced with ''Juche''.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1934&context=ilj|title=The Constitution of North Korea: Its Changes and Implications|last=Dae-Kyu|first=Yoon|date=January 2003|journal=Fordham International Law Journal|volume=27|issue=4|pages=1289–1305|access-date=17 February 2020}}</ref> In 2009, the constitution was quietly amended so that not only did it remove all Marxist–Leninist references present in the first draft, but it also dropped all reference to [[communism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://leonidpetrov.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/dprk-has-quietly-amended-its-constitution/|title=DPRK has quietly amended its Constitution|last=Petrov|first=Leonid|work=Leonid Petrov's Korea Vision|publisher=Blogger|date=11 October 2009|access-date=17 February 2020}}</ref> However, according to ''North Korea: A Country Study'' by Robert L. Worden, Marxism–Leninism was abandoned immediately after the start of [[de-Stalinisation]] in the Soviet Union and it has been totally replaced by ''Juche'' from at least 1974 onwards.<ref>{{cite book|last=Worden|first=Robert L.|year=2008|url=http://cdn.loc.gov/master/frd/frdcstdy/no/northkoreacountr00word/northkoreacountr00word.pdf|title=North Korea: A Country Study|edition=5th|location=Washington, D. C.|publisher=Library of Congress|page=206|isbn=978-0-8444-1188-0}}</ref>}}
* {{flagicon|Mongolia|1945}} [[Mongolian People's Republic]] (1924–1992)
* {{flagicon|Mozambique|1975}} [[People's Republic of Mozambique]] (1975–1990)
* {{flagicon image|Flag of PCP-Sendero Luminoso.svg}} [[People's Republic of Peru]] (1980–1992)
* {{flagicon image|Flag of Poland (1928–1980).svg}} [[Polish People's Republic]] (1944; 1952–1989)
* {{flagicon|Romania|1952}} [[Romanian People's Republic]] (1947–1965)
* {{flag|Tuvan People's Republic}} (1921–1944)
* {{flagicon image|Flag of Ukrainian People's Republic of the Soviets.svg}} [[Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets]] (1917–1918) (united into the [[Ukrainian Soviet Republic]])
* {{flagicon|South Yemen}} [[People's Democratic Republic of Yemen]] (1967–1990)
* {{flagicon|YUG}} [[Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia]] (1945–1963)


Other titles commonly used by Marxist–Leninist and socialist states are ''[[democratic republic]]'' (e.g. the [[German Democratic Republic]], the [[Somali Democratic Republic]], or the [[Democratic Federal Yugoslavia]] between 1943 and 1946) and ''[[Socialist state|socialist republic]]'' (e.g. the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]] and the [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam]]).

==21st century==

Presently five countries use the phrase ''People's Republic'' in their official names:
* {{flagicon|Algeria}} [[Algeria|People's Democratic Republic of Algeria]]
* {{flagicon|Bangladesh}} [[Bangladesh|People's Republic of Bangladesh]]
* {{flagicon|China}} [[China|People's Republic of China]]
* {{flagicon|Laos}} [[Laos|Lao People's Democratic Republic]]
* {{flagicon|DPRK}} [[North Korea|Democratic People's Republic of Korea]]

== Other uses ==
As a term, ''people's republic'' is sometimes used by critics and satirists to describe areas perceived to be dominated by [[left-wing politics]], such as the [[People's Republic of South Yorkshire]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.universalhub.com/glossary/peoples_republic_the.html|title=People's Republic, the|publisher=The Hub|date=10 November 2003|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0704/0704rednj.htm|title=Welcome to the People's Republic of New Jersey|last=Caruba|first=Alan|work=Enter Stage Right|date=28 June 2004|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/2011/09/12/gIQApBZTXK_story.html|title=Takoma Park|last=Reinink|first=Amy|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=16 September 2011|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://humanevents.com/2011/10/14/dispatch-from-the-peoples-republic-of-california/|title=Dispatch From the People's Republic of California|last=Hedgecock|first=Roger|website=Human Events|publisher=Townhall Media|date=14 October 2011|access-date=2 January 2020|archive-date=21 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921115930/http://humanevents.com/2011/10/14/dispatch-from-the-peoples-republic-of-california/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/06/partisan-rancour-and-public-universities|title=Polarisation in the People's Republic of Madison|newspaper=The Economist|date=5 June 2012|access-date=2 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/12/04/the-peoples-republic-of-california/|title=The People's Republic of California|last=Levi|first=Michael|newspaper=Foreign Policy|date=4 December 2012|access-date=2 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/election-2016/count_centre_reports/dublin-south-central-its-the-right-thing-to-do-fianna-fail-candidate-calls-for-full-recount-34492211.html|title=Dublin South Central: 'It's the right thing to do' Fianna Fail candidate calls for full recount|last=Treacy|first=Ciara|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=27 February 2016|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/12954116.More_than_12_000_Brighton_and_Hove_residents__declare_independence__from_blue_Britain/|title=More than 12,000 Brighton and Hove residents 'declare independence' from blue Britain|last=Yeomans|first=Emma|newspaper=The Argus|location=Brighton, England|date=16 May 2015|access-date=2 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.colorado.com/articles/go-local-boulder|title=Go Local in Boulder|publisher=Colorado Tourism|date=12 July 2019|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Communism|Politics|Socialism}}
* [[Bolivarianism]]
* [[Decolonization]]
* [[Democratic republic]]
* [[Islamic republic]]
* [[List of republics]]
* [[List of non-communist socialist states|List of socialist states]]
* [[Narodniks]]
* [[Populism]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Wiktionary-inline|people's republic}}

[[Category:Country name etymology]]
[[Category:Socialist states|*]]
[[Category:Types of republics]]