Does democracy work, or is it simply a cosmetic form of class dictatorship?

@DeWayfarer a republic just means it’s a [u]representative[/u] democracy, as opposed from direct democracy. In modern parlance,
“democracy” just means “republic”. Every modern democracy is s republic

@QuixoticSoul tell that to Republicans! 🤷‍♂️

Look at her description.

BTW the Redundancy doesn't make sense then.

@QuixoticSoul Hey, it's about being a liberal constitutional democracy, in the US they choice to organise by representation, which is the model in most democracies but certain democracies allow for referenda [i](like switzerland)[/i] which are backed up by the constitution. And because the US has a head of state that is chosen by the people (the president), it becomes a republic. But there are still constitutional monarchies that are also forms of constitutional democracy and where the head of state has a largely ceremonial function. They aren't republics, because they don't have a president. And these constitutions are liberal because they shackle the power of governement in favor of individual rights and freedom. Largely by difusing power in 3 branches of governement and constitutions that force political partners to make and rule by consensus. Governement is chosen by the citizens and the rule of law is enforced.

@Kwek00 Parliamentary republics are still republics - and having the occasional referendum is not a disqualifier - Switzerland is still a republic though they throw a “semi-direct” in there as a qualifier.

Republic just means that the state is ruled by representatives elected by the people.

@QuixoticSoul With a head of state that gets voted in. That's why it's called "republic". A constitutional monarchy is also ruled by the people, it's head of state is just not voted in by the poppulation. The head of state, doesn't have to have power. That's why they are not a republic, but they are still constitutional democracies. And in Europe, not all the countries are "republics".

@Kwek00 The head of state is often ceremonial, which coincidentally often makes parliamentary republics and constitutional monarchies functionally identical.

But yes, I suppose it is a superset - every republic is also a representative democracy, but there are representative democracies that are not technically republics.

@QuixoticSoul In a constitutional republic, the head of state is often the head of the executive branch. I wouldn't call that "ceremonial". It's mostly in liberal constitutional constructions that don't have presidents, mostly replaced by traditional institutions like monarchies, that the head of state becomes largely ceremonial. Examples are: Spain, the UK, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, ... and a bunch of satelite states. In most of the countries this has to do with their historical context. Belgium is a special example, because they were forced to have one, otherwise the powers of Europe wouldn't recongise it's sovereignity.

In these modern liberal constitutional institutions... yes.

@Kwek00 By ceremonial head of state I meant countries like, say, Germany.

@QuixoticSoul Yeah, but isn't Germany more of the exception then the norm? It's easier for me to name republics where the president actually have a hand in the executive then naming republics where that task is done by another function like a chancellor. A couple of big counter examples would be: France, the US, Italy and even Russia.