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List of socialist states

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This is a combined map of all countries who declared themselves to be socialist states under any definition, color-coded for the number of years that the country in question claimed to be socialist:
  Over 60 years
  50 - 60 years
  40 - 50 years
  30 - 40 years
  20 - 30 years
  10 - 20 years
  Under 10 years
Click on image to magnify.
A map of all countries who declared themselves to be socialist states, under any definition, at some point in their history.

This is a list of countries, past and present, that declared themselves socialist either in their names or their constitutions. No other criteria are used; thus, some or all of these countries may not fit any specific definition of socialism. Their only common feature is using the label "socialist" for themselves, under any interpretation. There are few, if any, definitions of socialism that could fit all the countries on this list. However, most definitions of socialism fit at least some of these countries at some points in their histories.

There are many countries that have been ruled by socialist political parties for extended periods of time without ever adopting socialism as an official ideology in their names or constitutions. Such countries are not listed here. However, see the article on the Socialist International for an up-to-date list of countries that are currently ruled by member parties of the SI (the largest present day organization of socialist political parties).

Conversely, there are some countries that maintain constitutional references to socialism without being currently ruled by a socialist political party. Those countries are included on this list.

Marxist-Leninist

These countries are generally known as "Communist states" in the West, because their ruling parties typically use the name "Communist Party of [country]." However, the countries themselves are referred to as socialist republics, not communist, in their own constitutions. They are defined by a form of government in which the state operates under a one-party system and declares allegiance to the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. In accordance with Marxism-Leninism, the constitutions of these countries claim that all power belongs to the working class, that a democratic dictatorship of the proletariat has been implemented within their borders, and that they are building socialism, with the goal of achieving communism one day. It should be noted that even though North Korea claims to follow another ideology, the roots of its own brand called Juche does still have elements of it.

Current

Main article: List of current communist states
A map showing states who currently declare themselves to be Marxist-Leninist.

Former

A map of countries who declared themselves to be socialist states under the Marxist-Leninist definition (in the west known as, "Communist states") at some point in their history. The map uses present-day borders. Note that not all of these countries were Marxist-Leninist at the same time.

Non-Marxist-Leninist

These are countries whose constitutions make references to socialism, but do not subscribe to Marxist-Leninist ideology. As such, they represent a wide variety of different interpretations of the term socialism.

Map showing countries whose constitutions contained some references to socialism (under a non-Marxist definition) at some point in their history.

Current

Former

Former states

Ephemeral

These are short-lived political entities that emerged during wars or revolutions (mostly in the aftermath of World War I) and declared themselves to be socialist under some interpretation of the term, but did not survive long enough to create a stable government or achieve international recognition.

See also

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