r/worldnews • u/DownWithAssad • 7d ago

Russia sentences 15-year-old schoolboy to 5 years for criticizing Putin regime and war against Ukraine Russia/Ukraine

https://khpg.org/en/1608813775
34.7k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/DankNerd97 7d ago

How naïve are you? There are more than two forms of government.

5

u/El_Lanf 7d ago

A nation state either has a monarch, or it doesn't. The rest is just shades of flavour. I live in the UK which is not a republic as we have a monarch who is head of state but it is a fairly well functioning democracy.

What is Russia if not a republic and tell me what a republic is and don't tell me dictatorship because that's not mutually exclusive with being a republic. A republic is not a democracy. A republic doesn't need a voting system. Go Google these terms first before arguing any more about definitions.

The term republic is a very empty phrase. The USSR was also a republic.

2

u/Calazon2 6d ago

The most common modern definition of "republic" is (quoting from Merriam-Webster Dictionary) "a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law" and "a political unit (such as a nation) having such a form of government".

Yes, other definitions exist, but this is the most common and most helpful one.

1

u/El_Lanf 6d ago

I think it's interesting depending on the source whether republicanism is defined by being opposite of monarchism. In that definition monarchy isn't even mentioned as in American society the idea of having a monarchy is nonexistent now. In many places though, having a monarch is an important part of their history and any change from that, even to a non democratic form of government is monumental in itself.

And being part of a nation that meets that definition of republic yet objectively is not classified as one makes me quite cognisant that the mere word republic is quite a hollow one. Should the word republic necessarily carry should benevolent baggage? In my opinion, not although the diminished state of monarchies today make them appear irrelevant and antiquated.

I personally think countries should be defined whether they are democracies (which is a term more often independently judged and graded) than republics as the very case of Russia in of itself shows dejure constitution does not reflect well the defacto state. Funny semantics given republic and democracy are essentially the same word from Latin and greek roots respectively.