List three basiccharacteristics/questions that are used to classify governments
1) Who can participate in government; 2) the geographic distribution of governmental power within the state; and 3) the relationship between the legislative (law making) and the executive (law-exectuting) branches of government.
What are the two basic forms of government classified based on who can participate in the governmnet
1) Democracies (either direct or indirect where the supreme political authority rest with the people; the people are sovereign); and 2) Dictatorships
Direct or Pure Democracy
Direct democracy exists where the will of the people is turned into public policy (law) directly by the people themselves, in mass meetings (example: town hall meetings). Only works in very small communities where people can meet in a central place and pr
Indirect or Representative Democracy
Indirect democracy is government by popular consent. A small group of people, chosen by the people to act as their representatives, expresses the popular will. These representatives are responsible for daily actions of government and are accountable to th
Republic
In a republic the sovereign power is held by those eligible to vote, while the political power is exercised by representatives chosen by and held responsible to those citizens
Dictatorship
Exists where those who rule cannot be held responsible to the will of the people. Dictatorship is probably the oldest and most common form of government known to history. Today many dictatorships are run by the military.
Autocracy
Form of dictatorship government in which a single person holds unlimited political power.
Oligarchy
Form of dictatorship government in which the power to rule is held by a small, usually self-appointed elite.
List characteristics of a dictatorship
1) The government is not accountable for its policies or how they are carried out; 2) all dictatorships are authoritarian - those in control have absolute, unchallengable authority over people; 3) modern dictatorhips are also totalitarian - their power em
What three basic forms of government can result depending on how governmental power is distributed geographically, between local and central government within a state
1) unitary government; 2) federal government; and 3) confederation
Unitary Government
Often described as a centralized government where all powers belong to a single, central agency. The central (national) government creates local government units with limited powers. Most governments in the world are Unitary. Ex. Great Britain
How is a Unitary Government different from a Dictatorship
In a unitary form of government, all of the powers held by the government are concentrated in a central government. That government doesn't necessarily have all of the power, though. A dictatorship has a central government that also has all of the power.
Federal Government
One in which the powers of government are divided between a central government and several local governments. An authority superior to the central and local governments makes this division of powers on a geographic basis. Both levels of government act dir
What is the superior authority used as the basis for the division of powers in the United States
The Constitution is the superior authority - the different powers assigned to the national government and the 50 States can't be changed unless the people agree at both the national and state level to change it.
Confederation
An alliance of independent states where a central organization (the confederate government) handles only those matters that member states assign to it, typcially limited to the fields of defense and trade. A confederate government allower several states t
What two forms of government are based on the relationship or distribution of power between the legislative and executive branches
1) presidential; and 2) parlimentary
Parliamentary Governmnet
The executive is made up of the prime minister or premier, and that official's cabinet. The prime minister and his cabinet are members of the legislative branch called the parliament. Voters elect the legislature. The Chief executive (prime minister) is c
What is a majority of the government systems in the world today
Parliamentary by a wide margin.
Presidential Government
The executive and legislative branches are separate, independent of one another, and coequal. Voters elect the Legislature and the Chief Executive who is part of the Executive Branch. The legislature and executive are independent and coequal.
How is power distributed in a presidential government
The chief excutive (president) is chosen independently of the legislature, holds office for a fixed term, and has broad powers not subject to the direct control of the legislative branch. The two branches have powers that allow them to block actions by th
What is the major difference between the Parliamentary and Presidential forms of government
Presidential governments divide power among several branches of government, while parliamentary governments focus power in one dominant branch. Parliamentary government avoids one of the major problems of the presidential form of government: prolonged con
Landsgemeinde
an assembly open to all local citizens qualified to vote in Switzerland
Julius Caesar
100-44bc; was the last of the Roman dictators
Muammar al-Qaddafi
Dictator in Libya from 1969 - 2011?
Give two examples of when the United States had a confederate form of government
1) under the Articles of Confederation (1781 - 1789); and 2) the Confederate States of America (1861 - 1865)
Benjamin Disraeli
British prime minister 1804-1881