Types of Government

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 464.

The Power of Government

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Every independent country has its own form of government. The governments that people establish for themselves can influence their lives in many ways. The primary functions of government are to keep order among citizens, provide certain common services (such as education, communications, and transportation), and protect the people from attack by hostile countries. Governments decide such matters as what kinds of property should be publicly owned rather than privately owned and how much a person must pay in taxes. Governments can set educational requirements, place limits on immigration, and draft citizens into military service.

In most modern nations there are also agreements between the government and the governed. One basic form of agreement is a constitution, which defines (and limits) what a government can do and how it can do it.

Aristotle's Definitions

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) said that "The true forms of government…are those in which the one, or the few, or the many govern, with a view to the common interest."

A government run by one person Aristotle called a monarchy. Government by the few he called an aristocracy or an oligarchy. To describe rule by the many, Aristotle used the Greek word demos, meaning "common people." He called government by the common people a democracy. Aristotle did not approve of democracy, however, because he believed that government by the masses could lead to disorder or lawlessness.

Autocracy

Like many other terms used in government, autocracy is derived from Greek roots, in this case those for "self" and "rule." An autocrat was a ruler with unlimited authority. Absolute monarchy, a related term, refers to a monarch who rules without checks on his or her power. Absolute monarchies exist today only in some of the states of the Arabian Peninsula.

Modern Democracy

The modern democratic state is usually a republic, in which the people freely elect representatives to express their views and wants. In addition to free elections, true democratic governments also have other standards by which they can be measured. One is freedom of speech, under which people may criticize their governments without fear of persecution. Another is the peaceful and orderly transfer of political power when new leaders are elected to office.

A constitutional monarchy is a democratic government in which the monarch is retained as the ceremonial head of state but has little or no political power. Probably the best-known constitutional monarchy is that of the United Kingdom, which has an unwritten constitution based on a large body of established law and custom.

Totalitarian Government

A totalitarian government, as its name implies, is characterized by its total control over all aspects of its citizens' political and economic activities and at least some aspects of private life. It is also marked by a distinct ideology, or set of beliefs, as in Fascism, Nazism, or Communism. The term authoritarian government is sometimes used for a similar form of government but one that does not exert such absolute control over its people's lives.