Types of Types of GovernmentGovernment

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Who has the power?

Who Has the Power to Who Has the Power to make the decisions in make the decisions in Different types of Different types of Governments?Governments?

Autocracy vs. Oligarchy vs. Democracy

Why governments?Why governments?

Think for a second…Why do we have governments?

Why do they exist?What are they used for?

What If…You Had the What If…You Had the Power to make all the Power to make all the decisions…decisions…If you were the leader of a country, what kind of political powers would you let the people of your country have? Why?

Autocracy: One PersonAutocracy: One Person

Only one person has all the power in making decisions for the people.

Forms of Autocracy: 1.Dictatorship

Examples: Germany’s Hitler, U.S.S.R.’s Stalin

2.Absolute Monarchy – one king in power with complete control

Examples: France’s King Louis XVI, Spain’s King Ferdinand

Oligarchy: A Small Oligarchy: A Small GroupGroupOnly a few people in a small

group of royalty, wealth, family, or military influence make political decisions for the country’s people.

Forms of Oligarchy:Communism – a small group

controls all the economic resources and government

Examples: former Soviet Union, Cuba, China

Democracy: The Democracy: The CitizensCitizensThe citizens have a say in their government by voting in elections.

Most democracies today are republics, where the people elect leaders to represent them in the government.

Most countries in the world are democracies.

Presidential DemocracyPresidential Democracy a government in which the

executive, legislative, and judicial branches are separate

The citizens vote for the leader of the country -- the president -- who serves in the executive branch.

Example: U.S.A.

Parliamentary Parliamentary DemocracyDemocracy a government where voters

elect representatives to a lawmaking body called parliament

Parliament members then select the leader, usually called the prime minister.

Parliamentary Parliamentary DemocracyDemocracy The prime minister is the

national political leader, and another figure serves as the head of state, like a constitutional monarch.

Examples: United Kingdom, Canada

Constitutional Constitutional MonarchyMonarchya government that has a constitution, but allows a king or queen to be the official head of state - yet elected officials run the government

Examples: United Kingdom, Spain

BibliographyBibliography"political systems." Britannica Elementary

Encyclopedia. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. 6  Mar.  2009  <http://www.school.eb.com.proxygsu-sgwi.galileo.usg.edu/elementary/article?articleId=390910>.

The World and Its People. McGraw-Hill Companies: Columbus, OH. 2005