So, a republic does not have a monarch. The Netherlands does have a monarch, therefore The Netherlands is not a republic.
That would make you a constitutional monarchy, not a democracy. Also, Oxford makes no mention at all of whether or not there is a monarch in their definition of republic.
http://www.askoxford.com/dictionary/republic
republic
/r"pblk/ noun state in which supreme power is held by the people or their elected representatives.
By that definition, The Netherlands is a republic.
However, here's Oxford's definition of democracy:
democracy
/d"mkrs/ noun (plural -ies) 1 government by the whole population, usually through elected representatives. 2 state so governed.
By that definition, The Netherlands is a democracy.
So you are both right.
See, you and JDG *do* have something in common :-)
Actually, JDG was probably referring to older, more formal definitions of both democracy and republic. By older definition, a democracy is government directly by the whole population, and republic is government where the population chooses representatives to govern.
Reggie Bautista
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