Possible Clues:

• Place for drinkers to get into scrap -- France perhaps?
• Where to drink in a piece of history in China, say
• It's left controlling local political system
• Country memorial housing a tavern
• Plato classic, with "The"
• State typically led by an elected president
• Commonwealth
• Boozer in antiquity after 1 unstable state
• Souvenir displayed round inn — The King's Head? Not here!
• Form of government without a monarch