A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country is a
sovereign
''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of
socialism
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
. This article is about states that refer to themselves as socialist states, and not specifically about
communist state
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
s that refer to themselves as
socialist states. It includes information on
liberal democratic states with
constitutional references to socialism as well as other state formations that have referred to themselves as socialist.
Overview
Constitutional references to socialism
A number of countries make references to socialism in their constitutions that are not single-party states embracing Marxism–Leninism and planned economies. In most cases, these are constitutional references to the building of a socialist society and political principles that have little to no bearing on the structure and guidance of these country's
machinery of government
The machinery of government (sometimes abbreviated as MoG) is the interconnected structures and processes of government, such as the functions and accountability of departments in the executive branch of government. The term is used particul ...
and
economic system
An economic system, or economic order, is a system of production, resource allocation and distribution of goods and services within an economy. It includes the combination of the various institutions, agencies, entities, decision-making proces ...
. The preamble to the 1976
Constitution of Portugal states that the Portuguese state has, as one of its goals, opening "the way to socialist society". Another broad example is that of Slovenia, which defines itself as a "state governed by the rule of law and a social state". Algeria, the Congo, India, and Sri Lanka have directly used the term ''socialist'' in their official constitution and name. Croatia, Hungary, and Poland directly denounce "Communism" in their founding documents in reference to their past regimes.
In these cases, the intended meaning of ''socialism'' can vary widely and sometimes the constitutional references to socialism are left over from a previous period in the country's history. In the case of many Middle Eastern states, the term ''socialism'' was often used in reference to an
Arab socialist/
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
philosophy adopted by specific regimes, such as that of
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...
and that of the various
Ba'ath parties. Examples of countries directly using the term ''socialist'' in their names include the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, while a number of countries make references to socialism in their constitutions, but not in their names. These include India and Portugal. In addition, countries such as Belarus, Colombia, France, Russia, and Spain use the varied term ''social state'', leaving a more ambiguous meaning. In the constitutions of Croatia, Hungary, and Poland, direct condemnation is made to the respective past socialist regimes. The
autonomous region
An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, zone, entity, unit, region, subdivision, province, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or territory, internal territory of a sovereign state that has ...
of
Rojava Rojava may refer to:
* Syrian Kurdistan, also known as Rojava, the geographical region where Kurds historically settled within present-day Syria
* Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria
The Democratic Autonomous Administ ...
, which operates under the principles of
democratic confederalism
Democratic confederalism (), also known as Kurdish communalism, Öcalanism, or Apoism, is a political concept theorized by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan about a system of democratic self-organization with the features o ...
, has been described as a socialist state.
Other uses
During the
post-war consensus
The post-war consensus, sometimes called the post-war compromise, was the economic order and social model of which the major political parties in post-war Britain shared a consensus supporting view, from the end of World War II in Europe in 1 ...
,
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English)
is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...
of large industries was relatively widespread and it was not uncommon for commentators to describe some European countries as democratic socialist states seeking to move their countries toward a
socialist economy
Socialist economics comprises the economic theories, practices and norms of hypothetical and existing socialist economic systems. A socialist economic system is characterized by social ownership and operation of the means of production that m ...
.
[Barrett, William, ed. (1 April 1978)]
"Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy: A Symposium"
''Commentary''. Retrieved 14 June 2020. "If we were to extend the definition of socialism to include Labor Britain or socialist Sweden, there would be no difficulty in refuting the connection between capitalism and democracy."[Heilbroner, Robert L. (Winter 1991)]
"From Sweden to Socialism: A Small Symposium on Big Questions"
''Dissident''. Barkan, Joanne; Brand, Horst; Cohen, Mitchell; Coser, Lewis; Denitch, Bogdan; Fehèr, Ferenc; Heller, Agnès; Horvat, Branko; Tyler, Gus. pp. 96–110. Retrieved 17 April 2020.[Kendall, Diana (2011). ''Sociology in Our Time: The Essentials''. Cengage Learning. pp. 125–127. . "Sweden, Great Britain, and France have ]mixed economies
A mixed economy is an economic system that includes both elements associated with capitalism, such as private businesses, and with socialism, such as nationalized government services.
More specifically, a mixed economy may be variously de ...
, sometimes referred to as democratic socialism—an economic and political system that combines private ownership of some of the means of production, governmental distribution of some essential goods and services, and free elections. For example, government ownership in Sweden is limited primarily to railroads, mineral resources, a public bank, and liquor and tobacco operations."[Li, He (2015). ''Political Thought and China's Transformation: Ideas Shaping Reform in Post-Mao China''. Springer. pp. 60–69. . "The scholars in camp of democratic socialism believe that China should draw on the Sweden experience, which is suitable not only for the West but also for China. In the post-Mao China, the Chinese intellectuals are confronted with a variety of models. The liberals favor the American model and share the view that the Soviet model has become archaic and should be totally abandoned. Meanwhile, democratic socialism in Sweden provided an alternative model. Its sustained economic development and extensive welfare programs fascinated many. Numerous scholars within the democratic socialist camp argue that China should model itself politically and economically on Sweden, which is viewed as more genuinely socialist than China. There is a growing consensus among them that in the Nordic countries the welfare state has been extraordinarily successful in eliminating poverty."] In 1956, leading
British Labour Party
The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...
politician and author
Anthony Crosland
Charles Anthony Raven Crosland (29 August 191819 February 1977) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and author. A social democrat on the right wing of the Labour Party, he was a prominent socialist intellectual. His influe ...
claimed that capitalism had been abolished in Britain, although others such as Welshman
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC (; 15 November 1897 – 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician, noted for spearheading the creation of the British National Health Service during his t ...
, Minister of Health in the first
post-war Labour government and the architect of the
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
, disputed the claim that Britain was a socialist state. For Crosland and others who supported his views, Britain was a socialist state. According to Bevan, Britain had a socialist
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
which stood in opposition to the
hedonism
Hedonism is a family of Philosophy, philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Psychological hedonism is the theory that all human behavior is Motivation, motivated by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. As a form of Psycholo ...
of Britain's capitalist society, making the following point:
Although, as in the rest of Europe, the
laws of capitalism still operated fully and
private enterprise
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...
dominated the economy,
some political commentators claimed that during the post-war period, when socialist parties were in power, countries such as Britain and France were democratic socialist states and the same is now applied to the
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...
and the
Nordic model
The Nordic model comprises the economic and social policies as well as typical cultural practices common in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). This includes a comprehensive welfare state and multi-level colle ...
.
In the 1980s, the government of President
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...
aimed to expand
dirigisme
Dirigisme or dirigism () is an economic doctrine in which the state plays a strong directive (policies) role, contrary to a merely regulatory or non-interventionist role, over a market economy. As an economic doctrine, dirigisme is the opposite ...
and attempted to nationalize all French banks, but this attempt faced opposition of the
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
because it demanded a
free-market capitalist
A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a market ...
economy among its members. Nevertheless,
public ownership
State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed t ...
in France and the United Kingdom during the height of nationalization in the 1960s and 1970s never accounted for more than 15–20% of
capital formation
Capital formation is a concept used in macroeconomics, national accounts and financial economics. Occasionally it is also used in corporate accounts. It can be defined in three ways:
*It is a specific statistical concept, also known as net invest ...
, further dropping to 8% in the 1980s and below 5% in the 1990s after the rise of
neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...
.
The socialist policies practiced by parties such as the Singaporean
People's Action Party
The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...
(PAP) during its first few decades in power were of a pragmatic kind as characterized by its rejection of nationalization. Despite this, the PAP still claimed to be a
socialist party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
, pointing out its regulation of the private sector, state intervention in the economy, and social policies as evidence of this. The Singaporean prime minister
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew (born Harry Lee Kuan Yew; 16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean politician who ruled as the first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. He is widely recognised ...
also stated that he has been influenced by the democratic socialist British Labour Party.
Communist states
Communist state
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
s categorised themselves as
socialist state
A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. This article is about states that refer to themselves as socialist states, and not specifically ...
after having reached a specific point of social development. But a communist state had myriads of self-designations. Terms used by communist states include ''
national democratic'', ''
people's democratic'', ''
people's republican'', ''
socialist-oriented,'' and ''workers' and peasants states.
A
people's republic is a type of communist state with a republican constitution. Although the term initially became associated with
populist
Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...
movements in the 19th century such as the German
Völkisch movement
The ''Völkisch'' movement ( , , also called Völkism) was a Pan-Germanism, Pan-German Ethnic nationalism, ethno-nationalist movement active from the late 19th century through the dissolution of the Nazi Germany, Third Reich in 1945, with remn ...
and the
Narodniks
The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...
in Russia, it is now associated with Communist Party ruled states. A number of the short-lived communist states which formed during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and
its aftermath called themselves ''people's republics''. Many of these sprang up in the territory of the former
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
following the
October Revolution
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
. Additional people's republics emerged following the
Allied victory in World War II, mainly within the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
. In Asia, China became a people's republic following the
Chinese Communist Revolution
The Chinese Communist Revolution was a social revolution, social and political revolution in China that began in 1927 and culminated with the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The revolution was led by the Chinese C ...
and North Korea also became a people's republic. During the 1960s,
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
and
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
ceased to use the term ''people's republic'' in their official name, replacing it with the term ''socialist republic'' as a mark of their ongoing political development.
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
also added the term ''socialist republic'' 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.
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
used both terms in its official name from 1976 to 1991.
See also
*
Legislatures in communist states
*
Soviet democracy
Soviet democracy, also called council democracy, is a type of democracy in Marxism, in which the rule of a population is exercised by directly elected '' soviets'' ( workers' councils). Soviets are directly responsible to their electors and boun ...
*
Soviet (council)
A soviet (, , ) is a workers' council that follows a socialist ideology, particularly in the context of the Russian Revolution. Soviets were the main form of government in the Russian SFSR and the Makhnovshchina.
The first soviets were estab ...
*
Soviet republic
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Socialist State
Dictatorship of the proletariat
Republicanism
Socialism
Types of countries