Comparing Forms
of Government
Chapter 2
Political Economy
 Link between economic and
political systems
 Belief that economic systems
will create laws / institutions
that protect the economic
systems
Political Economy
 Political
 Democracy
 anarchy
 Aristocracy
 Oligarchy
 dictatorship
 Monarchy
 tyranny
 Economic
 Market economy
 Traditional
economy
 Command
economy
Origins and Evolution
of Government
 City - State:
 Sumerians (Iraq 3000BC)
 Direct Democracy:
 Athens (Greece 5th Century BC)
 Representative Democracy (Rome 500
BC)
 Middle Ages: Feudalism to NationState
 Feudalism
 Absolute Monarchs v. Early Parliaments
Age of Revolutions
 Monarchs as despots
 1215 Magna Carta
 King John
 (trial by jury, due process, life, liberty,
property)
 1628 Petition of Rights
 Charles I
 (unlawful detention; limited martial law)
 1688 Bill of Rights: Glorious
Revolution or Bloodless Revolution
(1688 England): constitutional
monarchy;
 William and Mary
 (parliamentary elections, fair trial, freedom
from excess bail, cruel and unusual
punishment)
Age of Revolution
 American Revolution: constitutional
democracy
 Den of terrorists
 French Revolution (1789):
constitutional democracy to
authoritarian regime; totalitarianism
 Russian Revolution (1917): ‘communism’
 Theory v. Reality
Modern Totalitarianism
 Communism
 Joseph Stalin (1922-1953) USSR
 Communism party supreme power
 State control economy
 Suppression of opposition
 Hostility to religion, human rights
Modern Totalitarianism
 Fascism
 Benito Mussolini (1922 - 1943) Italy
 Dictator supreme power
 Every one serve the state (Hegel)
 Extreme nationalism
 Censorship and terror
Modern Totalitarianism
 Nazism
 Adolf Hitler (1933 - 1945) Germany
 Nazi party holds supreme power
 Racial superiority
 Territorial expansion
 Elimination of ‘inferior minorities’
 Reject democracy / civil liberties
Forms of Government:
Today
 Monarchy
 Rule by one
 Hereditary Ruler
 King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia
Forms of Government:
Today
 Dictatorship
 Rule by one
 Military coup d’etat or coup
 General Pervez Musharraf (19992008)
 Pakistan
Forms of Government:
Today
 Theocracy





Rule of a few religious leaders
Single state supported religion
Vatican City (nation); Pope
Iran; Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Khomeini
Forms of Government:
Today
 Single-Party State
 Constitution allows for one
party
 Or people ‘move’ to dominate
party - sycophancy
 Leading member of party control
party and government
 elite
Forms of government:
Today
 Direct democracy
 Athens, Ancient Greece
 Ohlone Indians, California
 Switzerland
 Referendum on laws
 Initiative
 recall
Forms of Government:
Today
 Parliamentary Democracy





Prime Minister
Ministers with portfolios
Parliament ministers
Votes of no confidence
People elect parliament;
parliament elects prime minister
 Great Britain; Canada
Forms of Government:
Today
 Presidential Democracy
 People elect president (directly or
indirectly)
 People elect legislature
 Responsive to people
 Legitimacy
 Checks and balances
 Difficult to remove president
 gridlock
Distribution of Power
 Unitary system




Centralized
Power in national government
Japan
Great Britain
Distribution of Power
 Federal System
 Federalism
 National and regional (state or
province) share power
 Flexible
 Experiment with policy
 Address local needs
Distribution of Power
 Confederal system
 Confederation
 States have more power than central
government (national government)
 Articles of confederation - first American
Government
 South during the Civil War
 Supranational Organizations: European Union
(EU)
Economic Systems
 Basic Questions all Economic
Systems must answer
 What goods and services should
be produced?
 How should these goods and
services be produced?
 For Whom? How should the people
share the goods and services?
Four Factors of
Production
 How should the factors of
production be used?




Land
Labor
Capital
Entrepreneurship
Economic Systems:
Traditional
 Decisions are made by custom
(ancestors) - three basic
questions
 Inuit of Alaska
Economic Systems:
Market Economies
 Market economy; capitalism,
free enterprise
 Interaction of supply and
demand
 Invisible hand: individual
decisions of producers and
consumers
Economic systems:
Command Economies
 Government decides three basic
questions
 Socialism /Communism
 Central planners
 Problems: shortages
Economic Systems:
Mixed Economies
 Blends reliance on market
forces with government
involvement in the market place
 Regulation
 Inspection
 USA: market to mixed economy
 PRC: Command to mixed economy