Forms of Government

Wait--What is government anyway?

Government is a system of social

control under which the right to
make laws, and the right to enforce
them, is given to a particular group
in society. Government power can be
held by one individual, a few, or a
majority.

A little more about

government
Governments come in different
forms. The basic law determining
the form of government is called the
constitution and may be written, as
in the United States, or largely
unwritten, as in Great Britain.

A little more about

government
Modern governments have many jobs including:
providing for the security of their country
keeping order
Establishing a system of justice so that people are
treated fairly
providing welfare services to those in need
regulating the economy (well get to economic
systems in a bit!)
establishing educational systems
***In extreme cases of governmental regulation, every
aspect of people's lives is controlled. This is called
totalitarianism. Can you think of a novel that has a
totalitarian government?

Government
We distinguish between forms of
government on the basis of its
organizational structure and the
degree of control exercised over
the society.

Forms of Government
We will be learning about the following
forms of government:
Democracy
Monarchy
Theocracy
Dictatorship
Transitional

Economic Systems
And a few economic systemsbecause
they are closely connected to
governments!
Capitalism
Socialism
Communism

Forms of Government

Democracy
Supreme power is given to the
people and exercised by them
directly or indirectly through a
system of representation.
Democratic countries have free
elections where all citizens have a
vote.

Democracy
Examples of Democratic countries
today:
United States of America
Philippines

Monarchy
Rule by a single person (a king or queen), who is the
permanent head of state. The term is now used to
refer to countries with hereditary rulers. This means
that rule is passed down from parent to child.
Constitutional monarchies are more common
today. Under this system, the powers of the king or
queen are restricted to those granted in the
constitution.
Most constitutional monarchies use a
parliamentary system in which the king or queen
may have strictly ceremonial duties. They often have
a elected prime minister who is the head of
government.

Monarchy
Examples of countries with monarchies today:
Saudi Arabia
Brunei
Qatar
Oman
Great Britain (Constitutional Monarchy)
Australia (Constitutional Monarchy)
Morocco (Constitutional Monarchy)
Bhutan (Constitutional Monarchynew!)

Theocracy
In a theocracy, government leaders
are members of the clergy (church
officials), and the state's legal
system is based on religious law.
Rulers are thought to be divinely
guided.

Theocracy
Examples of theocracies today:
Iran
The Vatican

Dictatorship
A government in which a single
leader or party exercises absolute
control over all citizens and every
aspect of their lives.
In most cases, this absolute power is
exercised in a cruel way.
Other names for a dictatorship
include: Autocracy, Military Junta,
Right Wing, Authoritarianism,
Totalitarianism or Fascism

Dictatorship
Examples of Dictatorships today:
North Korea
Libya
Myanmar (Burma)
Sudan

Transitional
A transitional government is one that
is in the process of changing from
one form to another
Countries with transitional
governments are often unstable

Transitional
Examples of countries with transitional
governments:
Afghanistan
Iraq

Economic Systems
Waitwhat is economics about
anyway?
Economics has to do with the production,
distribution and consumption of goods and
services
**One minute table talk: What do the words
production, distribution and
consumption mean?

Capitalism
An economic system in which
individuals and corporations are free
to invest in and own all aspect of a
business.
In a capitalist country, people own
their own companies and can
manage them to earn a profit.

Socialism

Apolitical and economic system in which some

businesses are controlled by the government rather
than by individuals.
In a socialist country, people have equal rights to
various benefits (health, education), and there is an
effort to limit the inequalities of wealth and power.
Taxes are often quite high to provide for these benefits.
People do hold private property in socialist countries.
A country can be both socialist and democratic

Communism

A political and economic system in which the

government controls all business.
Individual people cannot own property or industries
and in theory, people of all social classes are treated
equally.
Communist countries have totalitarian governments.
All communists are socialists, but not all socialists
are communists.

Think of it as a spectrum
CapitalismSocialism
Communism
_______________________________________
United States
Canada
Sweden
China
Cuba
North Korea

Still a little confused?

Watch the brainpop on Communism
for a bit more explanation