History PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny / Literature

* ''Literature/ApeAndEssence'' by Aldous Huxley has a post-apocalyptic Satanist theocracy which has to remind its subjects, when they want to do something the church disallows, that "this is a Democracy... in which every proletarian enjoys perfect freedom."

* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'':
** One of the emerging [[DividedStatesOfAmerica post-US]] countries is the Northern California-based Democratic Republic of Azania, which had its government quickly taken over by [[DoesNotLikeMen zealous radical feminists]]. They proceeded to make the country into an [[IllegalReligion officially atheist]], dictatorial, militarized, high-tech LadyLand well on the way to a transhuman OneGenderRace, with reproduction done via cloning and fetus tubes -- a nightmare of [[GoodOldWays tradition-honoring]], [[RealMenLoveJesus God-fearing]], [[StayInTheKitchen patriarchal]] Northern Confederation, and especially of their acting leader Kraft. The relative feasibility of their system motivated Kraft to move against them preemptively.
** The Northern Confederation eventually morphs into the Republic of Victoria. While said republic doesn't tack on any pretentious descriptives unlike most other examples, it still arguably follows the spirit of the trope. Let's see: it's effectively a one-party state, with said informal 'party' centered around [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial totally-not-an-ideology]] of [[GoodOldWays Retroculture]]; all significant opposition is silenced through either exile or [[PublicExecution capital punishments]]; their leader, Kraft, is basically a PresidentForLife (as there isn't really any mention of elections after him taking the office). While they conduct referenda on the most important policy questions as a way of [[UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}} Swiss-styled]] direct democracy, they ''somehow'' always produce results desired by the leadership. For icing on the cake, the shiny new republic [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero reintroduces ostensibly voluntary racial segregation]], with African-Americans subject to their 'autonomous' government that leaves an impression of [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra an Apartheid-era 'bantustan']] more than anything.

* ''Ape and Essence'' by Aldous Huxley has a post-apocalyptic Satanist theocracy which has to remind its subjects, when they want to do something the church disallows, that "this is a Democracy... in which every proletarian enjoys perfect freedom."

** ''A Desert Called Peace'' specifically points this out in a paragraph that goes something like this: People's Republic means dictatorship. Democratic Republic means oppressive and corrupt dictatorship. People's Democratic Republic means really oppressive and corrupt dictatorship with genocidal ambitions.

* In ''Shooting Script'', by Gavin Lyall, the ''Republica Libra'' is a Central American state with a name that means (obviously) "Free Republic". Naturally, it's really a dictatorship run by whichever general or "liberator" won the most recent civil war, which one doesn't matter, and which lasts only until the next civil war.

* In the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series, the fortress city of the royal line that rules D'Hara is called the People's Palace. The name actually fits, in a weird way: the entire structure's design is that of a power spell, meant to sap energy from spellcasters on the grounds and give it to the ruling Rahl. The spell form, though, is "drawn" with all the people moving through the palace, so without them, it would be powerless.
** The D'Haran army in the first book was called the People's Army of Peace...

* Creator/PoulAnderson's "Withit's Collegiate Dictionary", from ''There Will Be Time'', contains the following definition:

* While The United Human Federation (which is a lie from the start since in only controls the inner planets) in Dani and Eytan Kollin's ''Unincorporated'' series starts out fairly democratic, in fact it starts by increasing the franchise by granting it to anyone who joins the military, it becomes less as the series progresses. By the final book a cabinet member admits that they are well on the way to becoming a socialist state and perhaps even a communist one, even though they started out, [[CrapsaccharineWorld on the surface at least]] as a libertarian paradise.

* In ''Literature/Timeline191'', the CSA under Featherston. Firstly, despite its name, the Confederate States (which, in RealLife as well as in the series, started out as a confederation of states with a somewhat weaker central government), becomes a unitary totalitarian state, where everyone must fall in line with Featherston and take their marching orders from Richmond. Secondly, the Freedom Party is about anything but freedom, as is lampshaded in the series. Considering it's an alternate-history version of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany (complete with Featherston eventually wanting to kill every black person in the Americas), the hypocrisy is intentional.

* ''{{Literature/Emberverse}}'': The Provisional Republic of Iowa. In theory, it maintained its pre-Change system of government, but in practice is a hereditary dictatorship (and becomes a full-blown feudal monarchy in later books, thanks in no small part to Mathilda's meddling) where people can be sent to slave labor in mines for stepping out of line. The other states in the Midwest, which are essentially Iowa's puppet states, are implied to be much the same. It says a lot about [[CrapsackWorld the state of things]] that [[BlackandGreyMorality they're considered the good guys, at least compared to]] [[ReligionOfEvil the Church Universal and Triumphant]].

** ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'': The Boer Free State is an apartheid regime ruled by a white conservative elite that enslaves the black population (its no coincidence that it shares the same name with the real-life example of the [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Congo Free State]]). They control virtually all of Sub-Saharan Africa with the exception of Zululand, an black-majority kingdom that serves as a vassal to the Boers.

* The Heiburg Republic in ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'' is actually a military dictatorship where soldiers routinely brutalize the citizens. It wasn't always this way, but oppression by a more powerful country created a need for greater military power, leading to the current situation.

** Played with by the Star ''Empire'' of Manticore. They fit the dictionary definition (an aggregate of nations or people ruled over by an emperor or other powerful sovereign or government). But they aren't ''imperial'', as in, they don't go out and conquer new territory. Every star nation that has joined has been the one to ''ask'' to be annexed. This is considered to be a superior fate to ending up under the aforementioned People's Republic of Haven, or the Solarian ''League'', which ''is'' imperial in all but name.

* ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'': Every non-United States country we hear about in Ayn Rand's novel is the "People's State of (Fill in the Blank)". Of course, they are all [[MarySuetopia oppressive, poverty-stricken hellholes]]. Argentina and Chile are stated to have been non-People's States countries, and others are suggested to exist. The transitions seem both inevitable and [[StuffBlowingUp to not go well]]. In Chile's case, the transition comes midway through the book, as just one more step the world is taking towards universal communism.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' has TheRepublic become reorganized into the [[TheFederation Galactic Federation of Free Alliances]] following its initial collapse during the [[OutsideContextProblem Vong War]]. During the Second Galactic CivilWar, Jedi Knight Jacen Solo fell to the DarkSide and became Darth Caedus, pushing through increasingly dictatorial reforms such as internment and assassination of dissidents and the formation of a SecretPolice before JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope [[spoiler: and murdering his aunt, Jedi Master Mara Jade Skywalker]].

** "Literature/TheMule": The Foundation has fallen into an inherited dictatorship, full of corruption and inefficiency. Associated colonies self-identifying as [[ProudMerchantRace Traders keep up the old mercantile traditions]], with civil war looming between the [[DecadantCourt corrupt central government]] and the democratically focused population until the Mule comes in [[ConflictKiller and smashes both]].

** One of the emerging [[DividedStatesOfAmerica post-US]] countries is the Northern California-based Democratic Republic of Azania, which government was quickly taken over by [[DoesNotLikeMen zealous radical feminists]]. They proceeded to make the country into an [[IllegalReligion officially atheist]], dictatorial, militarized, high-tech LadyLand well on the way to a transhuman OneGenderRace, with reproduction done via cloning and fetus tubes -- a nightmare of [[GoodOldWays tradition-honoring]], [[RealMenLoveJesus God-fearing]], [[StayInTheKitchen patriarchal]] Northern Confederation, and especially of their acting leader Kraft. The relative feasibility of their system motivated Kraft to move against them preemptively.
** The Northern Confederation eventually morphs into the Republic of Victoria. While said republic doesn't tack on any pretentious descriptives unlike most other examples, it still arguably follows the spirit of the trope. Let's see: it's effectively a one-party state, with said informal 'party' centered around [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial totally-not-an-ideology]] of [[GoodOldWays Retroculture]]; all significant opposition is silenced through either exile or [[PublicExecution capital punishments]]; their leader, Kraft, is basically a PresidentForLife (as there isn't really any mention of elections after him taking the office). While they conduct referenda on the most important policy questions as a way of [[UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}} Swiss-styled]] direct democracy, they ''somehow'' always produce results desired by the leadership. For icing on the cake, the fresh new republic [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero reintroduces ostensibly voluntary racial segregation]], with African-Americans subject to their 'autonomous' government that leaves an impression of [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra an Apartheid-era 'bantustan']] more than anything.

** The Northern Confederation eventually morphs into the Republic of Victoria. While said republic doesn't tack on any pretentious descriptives unlike most other examples, it still arguably follows the spirit of the trope. Let's see: it's effectively a one-party state, with said informal 'party' centered around [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial totally-not-an-ideology]] of [[GoodOldWays Retroculture]]; all significant opposition is silenced through either exile or [[PublicExecution capital punishments]]; their leader, Kraft, is basically a PresidentForLife (as there isn't really any mention of elections after him taking the office). While they conduct referendums on the most important policy questions as a way of [[UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}} Swiss-styled]] direct democracy, they ''somehow'' always produce results desired by the leadership. For icing on the cake, the fresh new republic [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero reintroduces ostensibly voluntary racial segregation]], with African-Americans subject to their 'autonomous' government that leaves an impression of [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra an Apartheid-era 'bantustan']] more than anything.

* ''Literature/Victoria'':