List of republics


This is a list of republics. For antiquity the assessment of whether a state organisation is a republic is based on retrospective analysis by historians and political theorists. For more recent systems of government, worldwide organisations with a broad political acceptance, can provide information on whether or not a sovereign state is referred to as a republic.

List by period

Middle Ages

Maritime republics

A maritime republic was a thalassocratic city-state during the Middle Ages in which the merchant class had considerable power.

Free imperial cities

A free imperial city was a self-ruling city member of the Holy Roman Empire that was represented in the Imperial Diet.

Early modernity

Sister republics

A sister republic was a client state of France established by French armies or by local revolutionaries and assisted by the French First Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Modernity

19th century

Africa
Republic of Liberia

20th century

Africa
America
Asia
Europe
OceaniaIndependent State of Samoa Republic of Nauru

21st century and later

Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

List by type

In modern usage, a republican system of government is loosely applied to any state which claims this designation. For example, the Dominican Republic under Rafael Trujillo is considered a republic, as is the Republic of Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

Arab republics

Confederal republics

Confederal republics are associations of sovereign states, usually having power over critical common issues such as defense and foreign policy:

Crowned republics

A crowned republic, is a form of constitutional monarchy where the monarch's role is commonly seen as largely ceremonial and where all the royal prerogatives are prescribed by custom and law in such a way that the monarch has limited discretion over governmental and constitutional issues.
*

Democratic republics

Democratic republics are usually socialist states, although not all of them are necessarily socialist.

Federal republics

Federal republics are federal states in which the administrative divisions theoretically retain a degree of autonomy which is constitutionally protected, and cannot be revoked unilaterally by the national government. Federal republics are not unitary states.

Islamic republics

Republics governed in accordance with Islamic law:

People's republics

People's republics are said to be governed by the people. The name is most often used by communist states.

Current people's republics

Former people's republics

Socialist republics

These are republics that use the word "socialist" in their official name.

Unitary republics

Unitary republics are unitary states which are governed constitutionally as one single unit, with a single constitutionally created legislature. Unitary states are not federations or confederations.

Republics of Russia

Disputed separatist republics