Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 December 29

= December 29 =

Missing population figure
I'm looking for the most recent reliable population figure for the town of Obo in the Central African Republic; the old one was based on Google Earth and lacked an inline citation, and has unfortunately spread to other Wikipedias and to third-party websites. The only decent-quality version of the article is fr:Obo (République centrafricaine), which quotes a figure from 2003. –LaundryPizza03 ( d c̄ ) 05:00, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Fixed your link. I don't have a better source than the one cited in the French article. But it's a very poor country; maybe 2003 is the most recent reliable figure. --184.144.97.125 (talk) 05:12, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Either way, I've added the population figure from that source and contacted the website maintainers about the possibly outdated census data. –LaundryPizza03 ( d c̄ ) 06:20, 29 December 2021 (UTC)

Arson attacks on Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Halls in US
there was extensive news coverage of this..they were searching for an individual, captured on CCTV..why is it not mentioned on Wikipedia, or Wikinews? Gfigs (talk) 16:34, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * For why Wikipedia didn't cover it, see WP:NOTNEWS. As for why it's not on Wikinews, that can only be because no-one bothered to add it. --Viennese Waltz 16:37, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * ok, thanks.. Gfigs (talk) 11:24, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

subjects considered social science
Which subjects or discipline are considered social science? Donmust90 (talk) 17:47, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * See Social science. DOR (HK) (talk) 17:57, 29 December 2021 (UTC)

Patterns of Democracy but for companies, coops and unions?
I'm looking for any articles, researchers or books that have dealt with how the structure of membership based organisations affects their functioning. I'd draw a parallel with how Arend Lijphart's Patterns of Democracy systemises and then analyses the structures of different features of democratic systems. Does anybody know if there is a body of work relating to how members interact with the organisations they are a part of, at a democratic level?

2A01:4C8:1561:B5C0:41D0:751D:5C46:A88 (talk) 18:09, 29 December 2021 (UTC)


 * There are a few books with "organizational democracy" or "corporate democracy" in the title. Google Scholar search also scores several hits.I have no idea if any have a systematic approach. Wikipedia has articles on [[Industrial democracy] and Workers' self-management. --Lambiam 08:36, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Is it okay if I created a article dedicated to heads of state of a republic
Two months ago, I created an article dedicated to the heads of states in a republic. I wonder if I can created an article like that because I was inspired by the List of current monarchs of sovereign states (which talks about heads of state in a monarchy). Also, are there huge differences between a head of state of a republic and a head of state of a monarchy because I am not sure if I should keep the article or not and I am not sure if the topic of a head of state in a republic is notable. SpinnerLaserzthe2nd (talk) 21:43, 29 December 2021 (UTC)


 * A 'monarchy' is a specific form of state with a hereditary ruler (at least nominally - most modern monarchs have relatively little power compared to previous eras). A 'republic' is basically any state that isn't a monarchy. 'Heads of state' in republics can be anything from autocratic rulers to figureheads with little political power or influence. I don't think there is anything that would justify collecting such a diverse group together in a list. We already have List of current heads of state and government, which should include all, though it might usefully indicate in a clearer manner the relatively few heads of states of (nominal) monarchies. AndyTheGrump (talk) 22:08, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Strictly speaking, a republic is a form of government in which "supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives" (at least according to our article on the subject).  While monarchy is the main alternative, its not the only alternatives - military dictatorships would be another (even if they call themselves a republic), as well as provisional/interim/not-really-functioning governments.  And while there are several different forms of republic, there are also several forms of monarchy (absolute vs. constitutional, hereditary vs. elected, etc).  I don't know if that's enough to justify a list of "heads of state of republics".  On the one hand, it is as you say just the List of current heads of state and government with monarchs (and a few others) striped out.  On the other hand, if for some reason someone did want to know who all the current heads of republics are, it would currently take a lot of work cross-referencing that article with List_of_countries_by_system_of_government, so either a new list for republics, or adding government types to the former may be useful. Iapetus (talk) 11:10, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
 * If that is 'strictly speaking' the definition, then I'd have to suggest that it isn't the way the term is frequently used. I can think of a great number of 'republics' both past and present, where 'the people' either didn't get to vote for elected representatives at all, or were obliged to vote in elections where there was conveniently only one candidate. Which clearly includes military dictatorships, which frequently describe themselves as 'republics'. Wikipedia articles on such subjects should discuss reality, rather than some imaginary state of affairs, or at least not pretend that one is the other. Accordingly, trying to list 'republics' is always going to be problematic, as the List_of_countries_by_system_of_government article illustrates. It says, for example, that North Korea is a 'republic'. If that is the case, it seems to be a rather strange one, where the position of 'head of state' is passed down from father to son, and the state ideology demands that the people "honor the great Comrades Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il as the eternal leaders of our Party and the people and as the Sun of Juche". Even the most absolutist of monarchies tended not to demand loyalty to dead Sun-kings. AndyTheGrump (talk) 12:10, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
 * That's restricting the case to "who requires it?" In the event, it's faithfulness to ideology that is required of whichever members in order for being considered staying on the "good" side. It's not explicitly contradictory with our definition of "republic" at large. Of course autocracies are playing with the loopholes of how democracies like to defining themselves. It has to be considered hoowever that in matter of ideology state of statu quo is established relatively to an opposition, whichever that is. With monarchies, opposition do remain inside the governed whith the gocverning high-flying away above. All the other are foreigners. Or they may also migrate. --Askedonty (talk) 12:50, 30 December 2021 (UTC)