Government of One

Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which sovereignty is actually or
nominally embodied in a single individual (the monarch).
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Forms of
monarchy differ widely based on the level of legal autonomy the monarch
holds in governance, the method of selection of the monarch, and any
predetermined limits on the length of their tenure. When the monarch has
no or few legal restraints in state and political matters, it is called
an absolute monarchy and is a form of autocracy. Cases in which the
monarch's discretion is formally limited (most common today) are
called constitutional monarchies. In hereditary monarchies, the office is
passed through inheritance within a family group, whereas elective
monarchies use some system of voting. Each of these has variations: in
some elected monarchies only those of certain pedigrees are eligible,
whereas many hereditary monarchies impose requirements regarding the
religion, age, gender, mental capacity, and other factors. Monarchy was the
most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer
prevalent. Where it exists, it is now usually a constitutional monarchy, in
which the monarch retains a unique legal and ceremonial role, but exercises
limited or no political power: under the written or unwritten constitution,
others have governing authority. Currently, 44 sovereign nations in the
world have monarchs acting as heads of state, 16 of which
are Commonwealth realms that recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their head
of state. All European monarchies are constitutional ones, with the
exception of the Vatican City, but sovereigns in the smaller states exercise
greater political influence than in the larger. The monarchs of Cambodia,
Japan, and Malaysia "reign, but do not rule" although there is considerable
variation in the degree of authority they wield. Although they reign under
constitutions, the monarchs of Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and Swaziland appear to continue to exercise more political
influence than any other single source of authority in their nations, either
by constitutional mandate or by tradition.
Tyranny
Tyranny is usually thought of as cruel and oppressive, and it often is, but
the original definition of the term was rule by persons who lack legitimacy,
whether they be malign or benevolent. Historically, benign tyrannies have
tended to be insecure, and to try to maintain their power by becoming
increasingly oppressive. Therefore, rule that initially seems benign is
inherently dangerous, and the only security is to maintain legitimacy an
unbroken accountability to the people through the framework of a written
constitution that provides for election of key officials and the division of
powers among branches and officials in a way that avoids concentration of
powers in the hands of a few persons who might then abuse those powers.
Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Greece,
Italy, Egypt, Syria, France (going in that direction). Also, the United States
of America [aka the Great American Roman Empire] (already gone in that
direction). The Commonwealth of Australia is an example of a tyrannical
government in its developing years.
Government of Few
Aristocracy
The concept evolved in Ancient Greece, whereby a council of leading
citizens was commonly empowered and contrasted with direct democracy,
in which a council of male citizens was appointed as the "senate" of a city
state or other political unit. The Greeks did not like the concept of
monarchy, and as their democratic system fell, aristocracy was upheld. In
Ancient Rome, the Republic consisted of an aristocracy as well as consuls,
a senate, and a tribal assembly. In the Middle Ages and early modern era,
aristocracies primarily consisted of an influential aristocratic class,
privileged by birth and often by wealth. Since the French Revolution,
aristocracy has generally been contrasted with democracy, in which all
citizens should hold some form of political power. However, this
distinction is often oversimplified. In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes describes
an aristocracy as a commonwealth in which the representative of the
citizens is an assembly by part. Simply put, it is a government in which
only a certain part of the general population can represent it. Modern
depictions of aristocracy tend to regard it not as a legitimate aristocracy
(rule by the best), but rather as a plutocracy (rule by the rich).
Oligarchy
Because of 18th century ideals of egalitarianism, inspired by the French
Revolution, there are no governments that are formally aristocracies. Nor
are there any governments that acknowledge themselves to be aristocracies.
However, many people believe that the ideals that underlie that form of
government still exist in reality, if not by that name. A well cited example
for a de facto aristocracy is Russia. In Russia, more that 80% of that
countrys wealth is in the hands of less than 20% of the population.
Additionally much of the political power in the country is handed back and
forth between old time soviet era powerbrokers. However, labeling a
country as an aristocracy is a subjective and difficult thing. In the present,
no country likes to be called an aristocracy because of the negative
implications. Few now remember it as the vibrant form of benevolent
government it was believed to be in the middle ages. The country that is
most definitely and formally an aristocracy would be the Vatican.
Government of Many
Democracy
Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens
participate equallyeither directly or indirectly through elected
representativesin the proposal, development, and creation of laws. It
encompasses social, religious, cultural, ethnic and racial equality, justice,
and liberty. Direct democracy only exists in the Swiss cantons of Appenzell
Innerrhoden and Glarus. The Swiss confederation is a semi-direct
democracy (representative democracy with instruments of direct
democracy). Most western countries have representative systems.
Switzerland is a rare example of a country with instruments of direct
democracy (at the level of the towns, cantons and federal state). Citizens
have more power than in a representative democracy. At the federal level,
citizens can propose changes to the constitution (federal popular initiative)
or ask for a referendum to be held on any law voted by the
parliament. Between January 1995 and June 2005, Swiss citizens voted 31
times, to answer 103 questions (during the same period, French citizens
participated in only two referendums).
Representative
Representative democracy involves the election of government officials by
the people being represented. If the head of state is aldose then it is called a
democratic republic. The most common mechanisms involve election of the
candidate with a majority or a plurality of the votes. Representatives may
be elected or become diplomatic representatives by a particular district
(or constituency), or represent the entire electorate through proportional
systems, with some using a combination of the two. Some representative
democracies also incorporate elements of direct democracy, such as
referendums. A characteristic of representative democracy is that while the
representatives are elected by the people to act in the people's interest, they
retain the freedom to exercise their own judgment as how best to do so.
Such reasons have driven criticism upon representative democracy,
pointing out the contradictions of representation mechanisms' with
democracy.
Mobocracy
One of the main characteristics of an open and free society is the right to
peaceably assemble and petition a government for change and reform. This
sort of communication can create useful remedies for ambiguous social
issues, or it can turn into an angry group that wants to control by mass or
mob opinion. There are many examples of mobocracy in the history of
almost all nations. Governments that claim to be democratic are to a point,
but there is an element of power associated with all governments, and it can
act as a catalyst for mobocracy. A good example is the French Revolution.
Political leaders who sensed the ability to take over the existing
government by mob rule succeeded in manipulating mobs in Paris. Another
good example is the Salem Witch Trials. A group of townspeople actually
overpowered the logic of the law. Lynch mobs dominated local
governments in the South during the 19th and part of the 20th century. Mob
law was the law and it controlled what was acceptable in terms of ethnicity.
Lapses in control when it comes to the necessities usually lead to some sort
of mob power, and that power can collapse existing governments. Maybe
that is what's happening now. Egypt is the first country to experience the
results of a current day mobocracy. The governments of Libya, Syria, and
Yemen are going through the same process, but no one is sure what the
final outcome will be. Even though police in these states limit mob activity,
the will of the people will come to the surface through some sort of
mobocracy. The people may not get all of their demands and the
consequences could be more than they bargained for unless the government
is able to proclaim victory in some way, or it is completely taken over and a
new government is formed.
Dictatorship
Dictatorship is a form of government where political authority is often
monopolized by a single person or a political party, and exercised through
various oppressive mechanisms. A dictatorship is similar to
authoritarianism, and differs from totalitarianism where a state that
regulates nearly every aspect of the public and private behavior of its
people. Dictatorships are defined by the source of the governing power and
totalitarianism concerns the scope of the governing power. Dictatorship is
opposed to democracy. Totalitarianism, on the other hand, opposes
pluralism. China is the most powerful example of dictatorship existing in
the garb of government. Not only rights to residential areas, availing
medical facilities and other leisure like clubs are demarcated, but even
press freedom is denied, Giants like google face filtered information
problems before venturing into services where words like free speech are
banned.
Pluralism as a political philosophy is the recognition and affirmation of
diversity within a political body, which permits the peaceful coexistence of
different interests, convictions and lifestyles. Political pluralists are not
inherently liberals (who place liberty and/or equality as their guiding
principles) or conservatives (who place order and/or tradition as their
guiding principles) but advocate a form of political moderation. Nor are
political pluralists necessarily advocates of a democratic plurality, but
generally agree that this form of government is often best at moderating
discrete values.
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of government. It is characterized by absolute
or blind

obedience to [formal] authority, as against individual freedom and
related to the expectation of unquestioning obedience. Juan Linz, whose
1964 description of authoritarianism is influential, characterized
authoritarian regimes as political systems by four qualities: (1) "limited, not
responsible, political pluralism"; that is, constraints on political institutions
and groups (such as legislatures, political parties and interest groups), (2) a
basis for legitimacy based on emotion, especially the identification of the
regime as a necessary evil to combat "easily recognizable societal
problems" such as underdevelopment or insurgency; (3) neither "intensive
nor extensive political mobilization" and constraints on the mass public
(such as repressive tactics against opponents and a prohibition of anti-
regime activity) and (4) "formally ill-defined" executive power, often
shifting or vague. China, North Korea, Burma, Zimbabwe. There is also at
the moment in Libya with Gaddafi and in the war Germany was one with
Adolf Hitler. Since there is no precise, universally agreed definition of
authoritarianism, there is no definitive list of states that are authoritarian.
But several annual measurements attempt to do so, including the Economist
Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index (which classifies 51 states as
"Authoritarian regimes") and Freedom House's Freedom in the World
report. Turkey is considered by some media outlets as authoritarian even
though Turkey, being a EU candidate country, complied with Copenhagen
criteria. The Copenhagen criteria outlines the countries should have
"stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human
rights and respect for and protection of minorities." As Turkey complied
with the Copenhagen criteria and is candidate country for EU, the claims of
Turkey's being authoritarian is taken by many as controversial.
Examples of states which are currently (or frequently) characterized as
authoritarian:
Azerbaijan under Ilham Aliyev
Bahrain under the House of Khalifa
Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge and Hun Sen
China under the Chinese Communist Party
Cuba under Fidel and Ral Castro
Iran under Supreme Leaders Ruhollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei
North Korea under the Korean Workers' Party
Russia under Vladimir Putin
Saudi Arabia under the House of Saud
Syria under Hafez and Bashar al-Assad
Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdoan
Venezuela under Hugo Chvez, Nicols Maduro and the United
Socialist Party of Venezuela
Vietnam under the Vietnamese Communist Party
Examples of states which were historically authoritarian:
Burma from a 1962 coup until a transition to democracy beginning in
2011.
South Africa under the National Party from 1948 until the end
of Apartheid in 1994.
South Korea from the early 1970s until a transition to democracy in
1987.
Spain under Francisco Franco from 1936 to 1975, when the Spanish
transition to democracy began after Franco's death.
Turkey under Republican People's Party from 1923-1946
Taiwan (known as the Republic of China until 1949) from the 228
Incident of 1947 until a transition to democracy in the late 1980s and
early 1990s.
Libya under Muammar Gaddafi until his deposition and death in the
end of the Libyan civil war.
Egypt under Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak.
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system in which the government has no limits
in regard to its power and authority and controls all aspect of the lives of its
citizens, completely and utterly all controlling. These governments usually
get started off of the idea of socialism, which is another form of political
system. In socialism, they try to keep all the people equals, everyone
working for the community as a whole and not for one's self. In this
manner, everyone will be provided for from the community, all giving in
and all receiving what they need. On paper this sounds ideal, but in reality
the few leaders always rise up and take complete control. Then they just get
greedy and take as much power as possible from anyone, including other
countries. Throughout history, we have seen many examples of this form of
government, even in today's day and age there are still several countries
that are this form of government. In during World War II, we saw the rise
of Hitler's Nazi's rule Germany, Stalin's Soviet Russia, and Mussolini's
Italy, are all cases of totalitarian governments. Modern day examples would
include Cuba, China, and North Korea. All of these leaders rose to power
from a basis common reason, the people were suffering and these leaders
promised hope for them. Under these leaders they rose together and made
great mighty nations. They leaders however want more and more power,
and usually invade other lands. Resulting in war, most of the time, and then
ultimately their respective downfalls. This is the general case however. In a
totalitarian society, the government controls all. They instill fear and a
great sense of loyalty into its citizens. This is accomplished by scaring
them into submission, by killing, abducting, bribing, and censoring them.
The people are terrified to rebel and others are swept up into the craze and
will rat out a fellow citizen just to ensure ones own safety, compltely
disregarding morality. Family members are taken and killed, young ones
may be forcefully recurited into armies etc etc. Censoring, however, may
be one of the most effective method of convincing the general public that
the government they are living under is the "best." They are censored from
birth, striking all negative propaganda from all sources. Starting at birth
enables them to know no different way of living.
Communism
Communism (from Latin communis common, universal) is a
socioeconomic system structured upon common ownership of the means of
production and characterized by the absence of classes, money, and
the state; as well as a social, political and economic ideology and
movement that aims to establish this social order. The movement to
develop communism, in its MarxistLeninist interpretations, significantly
influenced the history of the 20th century, which saw intense rivalry
between the communist states in the Eastern bloc and the most
developed capitalist states of the Western world. Vladimir Lenin and Leon
Trotsky led a movement that ultimately overthrew the post-Tsar provisional
government in 1917. The ravages of the Great War, combined with a public
that considered the monarch incompetent, cemented the downfall of the
Romanovs and the ascendancy of the Communist state. As Soviet influence
grew throughout the rest of the twentieth century, many other countries
turned to Communism, with 24 countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe,
and North America joining the USSR in rejecting classist systems. The
phenomenon was relatively short-lived. Once the Soviet Union collapsed,
most of the countries that had installed Communist governments under
Soviet pressure replaced their regimes with more pluralistic governments.
However, there are still five major Communist countries left, surviving
under the protection of the last Communist superpower, the Peoples
Republic of China.
Mao Zedong took control over China in 1949 and proclaimed China as the
People's Republic of China, a communist country. China has remained
consistently communist since 1949 although economic reforms have been
in place for several years. China has been called "Red China" due to the
communist party's control over the country. A revolution in 1959 led to the
taking over of the Cuban government by Fidel Castro. By 1961, Cuba
became a fully communist country and developed close ties to the Soviet
Union. Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, became a
communist country in 1975 following a revolution that was supported by
Vietnam and the Soviet Union. Korea, which was captured by Japan in
World War II, was divided following the war into a Soviet north and
American south. Despite being led by the USSR beginning in 1945, North
Korea did not become a communist country until 1948. Vietnam was
partitioned at a 1954 conference that followed the First Indochina War.
While the partition was supposed to be temporary, North Vietnam became
communist and supported by the Soviet Union while South Vietnam was
democratic and supported by the United States. Following two decades of
war, the two parts of Vietnam were unified and in 1976, Vietnam as a
unified country became a communist country.
Fascism
Fascism is a form of radical authoritarian nationalism that came to
prominence in early 20th-century Europe. Influenced by national
syndicalism, fascism originated in Italy in the immediate aftermath of
World War I, combining more typically right-wing positions with elements
of left-wing politics, in opposition to liberalism, Marxism, and traditional
conservatism. Although fascism is usually placed on the far right on the
traditional leftright spectrum, several self-described fascists said that the
description is inadequate. Fascism is a form of socialism. The best example
of Fascism was Nazi Germany. Fascism is the public ownership of all
property except in name. It allows citizens to pretend that they own
property, but they must use it in accordance with the wishes of the state.
Since ownership means the ability to control a piece of property, the
ownership is actually in the hands of the government. Fascism is often
confused with other aspects of the Nazi regime. The Nazis were racists and
nationalists. These are not necessary components of Fascism, though.
Fascism is simply government ownership of all property in fact, with
private ownership of property in name. In every significant way, Fascism
resembles Communism. It also has a record of massive slaughter,
scapegoats, starvation, and destruction of wealth. It has the same moral
base as Communism. It is founded on Collectivism. They are different
faces of the same evil system.
Parliamentary
Parliamentary democracy is a representative democracy where government
is appointed by, or can be dismissed by, representatives as opposed to a
"presidential rule" wherein the president is both head of state and the head
of government and is elected by the voters. Under a parliamentary
democracy, government is exercised by delegation to an executive ministry
and subject to ongoing review, checks and balances by the legislative
parliament elected by the people. Parliamentary systems have the right to
dismiss a Prime Minister at any point in time that they feel he or she is not
doing their job to the expectations of the legislature. This is done through a
Vote of No Confidence where the legislature decides whether or not to
remove the Prime Minister from office by a majority support for his or her
dismissal. In some countries, the Prime Minister can also call an election
whenever he or she so chooses, and typically the Prime Minister will hold
an election when he or she knows that they are in good favour with the
public as to get re-elected. In other parliamentary democracies extra
elections are virtually never held, a minority government being preferred
until the next ordinary elections. An important feature of the parliamentary
democracy is the concept of the "loyal opposition". The essence of the
concept is that the second largest political party (or coalition) opposes the
governing party (or coalition), while still remaining loyal to the state and its
democratic principles.
Presidential
Presidential Democracy is a system where the public elects the president
through free and fair elections. The president serves as both the head of
state and head of government controlling most of the executive powers.
The president serves for a specific term and cannot exceed that amount of
time. Elections typically have a fixed date and aren't easily changed. The
president has direct control over the cabinet, specifically appointing the
cabinet members. The president cannot be easily removed from office by
the legislature, but he or she cannot remove members of the legislative
branch any more easily. This provides some measure of separation of
powers. In consequence however, the president and the legislature may end
up in the control of separate parties, allowing one to block the other and
thereby interfere with the orderly operation of the state. This may be the
reason why presidential democracy is not very common outside the
Americas, Africa, and Central and Southeast Asia. A semi-presidential
system is a system of democracy in which the government includes both a
prime minister and a president. The particular powers held by the prime
minister and president vary by country.
Constitutional
A constitutional democracy is a representative democracy in which the
ability of the elected representatives to exercise decision-making power is
subject to the rule of law, and usually moderated by a constitution that
emphasizes the protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals, and
which places constraints on the leaders and on the extent to which the will
of the majority can be exercised against the rights of minorities. In a
constitutional democracy, it is possible for some large-scale decisions
to emerge from the many individual decisions that citizens are free to
make. In other words, citizens can "vote with their feet" or "vote with their
dollars", resulting in significant informal government-by-the-masses that
exercises many "powers" associated with formal government elsewhere.
Hybrid
Some modern democracies that are predominately representative in nature
also heavily rely upon forms of political action that are directly democratic.
These democracies, which combine elements of representative democracy
and direct democracy, are termed hybrid democracies, semi-direct
democracies or participatory democracies. Examples include Switzerland
and some U.S. states, where frequent use is made of referendums and
initiatives. Although managed by a representative legislative body,
Switzerland allows for initiatives and referendums at both the local and
federal levels. In the past 120 years less than 250 initiatives have been put
to referendum. The populace has been conservative, approving only about
10% of the initiatives put before them; in addition, they have often opted
for a version of the initiative rewritten by government. In the United States,
no mechanisms of direct democracy exists at the federal level, but over half
of the states and many localities provide for citizen-sponsored ballot
initiatives (also called "ballot measures", "ballot questions" or
"propositions"), and the vast majority of states allow for referendums.
Examples include the extensive use of referendums in the US state
of California, which is a state that has more than 20 million voters. In New
England Town meetings are often used, especially in rural areas, to manage
local government. This creates a hybrid form of government, with a
local direct democracy and a state government which is representative. For
example, most Vermont towns hold annual town meetings in March in
which town officers are elected, budgets for the town and schools are voted
on, and citizens have the opportunity to speak and be heard on political
matters.