Types of
Government
Distribution of Power and
Authority
Power by Authority
 Governments
differ based on
Authority
 How
much power/control does
the government have?
 How does the government gain
power
 Power Spectrum
Anarchy
Totalitarianism
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Government and the state manages nearly all
aspects of public and private life
People do not have personal freedoms
No privacy
People have no say in government decisions
Almost all choices in your life are made by the
government

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Jobs
Schools
Where you live
Problems w/ Totalitarianism
 No
civil liberties (personal
rights)
 Government makes decisions
that are in their best interest
 The people don’t have a say in
decisions that can impact their
lives
Anarchy
 No
government body = no powers
 Individuals make decisions
concerning all aspects of life
 Problems with Anarchy
 Dealing
with major issues
Foreign
Threats
International Trade
Domestic Issues (health, poverty)
Governments - Power by
Level
Some types use different
levels of government to
divide powers (not
branches)
Unitary
Confederate
Unitary Governments
 All
power belongs to one single
agency
 If that agency wants to give away
some powers
 Power is usually given to other
smaller local governments just to
make it easier on the central
agency
Example of Unitary Government
 Great
Britain
 Parliament
makes up the whole
government
 There are some local governments,
but they were just created to make it
easier on Parliament
 Parliament could eliminate these
governments at any time
Federal Governments
Also known as Federalism
 Power is divided into levels - one
central government and several local
governments
 No one level can gain more power
without the consent of the other level
 Each level has their own powers, and
these cannot be changed without the
consent of the people
 Some powers are shared

Example of Federal Governments
 United
 One
States
central government
(National)
 Several local government (States)
 Constitution divided powers
between these two levels and this
cannot change unless the citizens
want it to
Confederate Government
Alliance of several independent states
 There is a Confederate Government that only
gets powers that all states agree upon
 Usually deals with international trade/
national defense
 States are allowed to maintain their identities,
but they also have the benefit of working
with other states on common issues
 Has one common constitution

Example of a Confederate State
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Confederate States of America
Separated from the United States during the
Civil War
11 States wanted to be independent of the
U.S. Government and have total control over
their state.
Created 1 constitution for all of the states
They did this because they didn’t like the
fact that the federal government had some
powers over them