On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 06:50:09 -0700, Fred Bauder fredbaud@ctelco.net wrote:
Likewise, characterizing Australia as a republic when its title is Commonwealth or the Soviet Union as a dictatorship when its title is republic is problematic. Both characterizations seek to cut through the verbiage and express the essence of the matter, the truth. However they cannot take the place of the proper sort of NPOV information which explores the different ways the situation is looked at and described.
I'm not sure what's wrong with describing a commonwealth as a republic, but we've reached an acceptable solution, complete with good sources. The Prime Minister describes Australia as a "crowned republic".
I take your point about blandly describing Australia as a republic, and in hindsight it caused more heat than light.