Forms of Government

Classify Governments

• No two governments are exactly alike because governments are the products of human needs and experiences.

• Over time, political scientists have developed many bases upon which to classify governments.

• There are three classifications.

• The first classification is who can participate in the governing process.

• The second is the geographic distribution of the governmental power within the state.

• The third is the relationship between the legislative and the executive branches of the government.

• There are two basic forms of government to consider.1. Democracies 2. Dictatorships

Democracy• In a democracy the supreme political

authority rests with the people.

• The people hold the sovereign power, and the government is conducted only by and with the consent of the people.

• A democracy can either be direct or indirect in form.

• A direct democracy exists where the will of the people is translated into law, or public policy, directly by the people themselves in mass meetings.– A direct democracy is also known was a pure

democracy.

• This is possible in small communities.• This does not exist at the national level

anywhere today.

• Americans are more familiar with the indirect form of democracy with a representative democracy.

• A small group of people are chosen by the people to act as their representative.

• The representatives are responsible for carrying out day-to-day conduct of government.– Making and executing the laws.

• They are held accountable to the people for their conduct.

• During elections, the people have the opportunity to express their approval or disapproval of their representatives by casting ballots for or against them.

• The government has the consent of the governed.

• Many Americans use the terms democracy, republic, representative democracy, and republican form of government interchangeably even though they are not the same thing.

• Whatever the term used, remember that in a democracy the people are sovereign.

Dictatorship

• A dictatorship exists where those who rule cannot be help responsible to the will of the people.

• The government is not accountable for its policies, nor for how they are carried out.

• It is most likely the oldest and most common form of government.

• Dictatorships are identified as either autocracies or oligarchies.

• An autocracy is a government in which a single person holds unlimited political power.

• An oligarchy is a government in which the power to rule is held by a small, usually self-appointed elite.

• All dictatorships are authoritarian, meaning those in power hold absolute and unchallengeable authority over the people.

• Modern dictatorships have tended to be totalitarian, meaning they exercise complete power over nearly every aspect of human affairs.

• Today dictatorships often present the outward appearance of control by the people.

• The people often vote, but the vote is closely controlled, and ballots usually contain the candidates of but one political party.

• Typically, dictatorial regimes are militaristic in character and usually gain power by force.

Geographic Distribution of Power

• In every system of government the power to govern is located in one or more places, geographically.

• There are three basic forms of government that exist:1. Unitary2. Federal3. Confederate

Unitary Government• It is a centralized government.

• All powers held by the government belong to a single, central agency.

• Most governments in the world are unitary in form.– Ex: Great Britain.

• A single central organization, the Parliament, holds all of the government’s power.

Federal Government

• A federal government is one in which the powers of government are divided between central government and several local governments.

• An authority superior to both the central and local governments which makes this division of powers on a geographic basis.

• Both levels of government act directly on the people through their own sets of laws, officials, and agencies.

Confederate Government

• A confederate is an alliance of independent states.

• A central organization (the confederate government) handles only those matters that members states assign to it.

• Typically, the powers of confederate governments have been limited to fields of defense and trade.

• They have not had the power to make laws that apply directly to individuals.

• This structure makes it possible for the several state to cooperate in matters of common concern and still keep their separate identities.

• Really, the only confederation that is around today is the European Union.