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The differentiation between "democracy" and "republic" is at best something whose time is long gone. In the past, I can imagine that there was some utility in distinguishing between these terms. This difference between countries that could be called either lay in whether the people acted directly to make laws, or the people elected representatives to act on their behalf.

Is there currently any utility in making a distinction? Perhaps we can start by asking if there are any countries on the planet where all the people participate directly in the making of decisions. Certainly this is impossible in any but the very smallest of countries. Give anyone provide an example of a democracy that is not a republic?

I think most people recognize this. In fact, current dictionaries have definitions that are essentially identical for the two terms. Below is one example, taken from the online dictionary called Dictionary.com. (The citations for each follows the two definitions.)

Perhaps we should stop quibbling about these essentially identical words. I think so.

Democracy: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

Republic: a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.

democracy. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.co m/browse/republic (accessed: July 05, 2007).

republic. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.co m/browse/republic (accessed: July 05, 2007).

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