Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Democratic Countries


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete.  Larry V (talk &#124; email) 22:53, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

List of Democratic Countries

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I'm not quite sure we should delete, but perhaps. After all, there are the usual concerns about POV, there not being a single definition of "democracy". Plus, the Freedom House list of electoral democracies is already represented in three articles. And if need be, we could include this list at Freedom in the World. Anyway, if kept, this should be moved to List of electoral democracies or a similar title. - Biruitorul Talk 15:13, 7 June 2011 (UTC)
 * How is this POV? 'Democracy' has a standard recognized definition. As I've said on the article's talk page, while the FH report is the only source currently used, there are other sources that have similarly classed countries (the same countries in general) as democracies. Isn't the correct solution to add the sources, or give me some time to add them, instead of deleting a validly referenced article? e Robert-Houdin 17:12, 7 June 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rober-houdin (talk • contribs)
 * The naivety of the statement that democracy has a standard recognized definition beggars belief. Under what criteria do we include the United Kingdom (with its House of Lords) but not Russia? Or Samoa (where only traditional chiefs, 95% of them male, can be elected to the legislature) but not Venezuela? Or Monaco (with its undemocratically appointed executive) but not Zimbabwe? And how about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or the former German Democratic Republic? Someone's definition of democracy must include those, or they wouldn't have been named that way, so do we include them in the list? Phil Bridger (talk) 17:14, 8 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Lists-related deletion discussions.  — • Gene93k (talk) 18:49, 7 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Delete. Obvious POV. --XXPowerMexicoXx (talk) 21:37, 7 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Delete or merge to the organization whose subjective list this is. There is no standard recognized definition of democracy, so we shouldn't present articles as if there was. Phil Bridger (talk) 17:14, 8 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep Phil Bridge - you are discussing whether specific sets of facts meet the definition, not the definition itself. The definition of democracy is fairly standard throughout major English language dictionaries.  OED, Dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster, even Google. The standard definition running something like this:  '1. A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. 2. A state governed in this way'(Google). As for the examples you've give, Wikipedia would include them if a reliable source calls them democracies. XXPowerMexicoXx , I question the validity of your opinion here in reaching consensus, since your one edit to the article was the un-cited addition of Belarus, Cuba, and Venezuela to the article [1 ].  Not only does Freedom House not call Cuba and Belarus democracies, neither does the CIA Factbook [2 ][2 ]. Venezuela is listed as a 'Federal Republic'[4 ] , so I would add it to the list.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rober-houdin (talk • contribs) 23:33, 8 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Sorry, my last edit was a little harsh and didn't AGF. How is this article different from [List of Socialist Countries]], list of current constitutional monarchies or the list on Communist State? Or, in principle from List of dictators? --e Robert-Houdin 23:46, 8 June 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rober-houdin (talk • contribs)


 * Reclassify as List of electoral democracies. And Adoil Descended (talk) 01:16, 9 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Delete - it's point of view whether a country is a "proper" democracy or not. Almost every country in the word claims to be a democracy of some sort (save Saudi Arabia and the Holy See ), so it would be pretty pointless to make a list of countries which consider themselves democracies. --Anthem 09:25, 12 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Note Anthem of joy has been indef blocked as a sockpuppet of Claritas . --Tothwolf (talk) 04:04, 15 June 2011 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.