Forms of Government
What is the importance of government?
Government is the ruling authority
Keep order and provide security
Provide services
Guide the community
Popular sovereignty- the idea that government
receives its power from the people
Levels & Types of Government
Federal system- government divided between
federal (national) govt and state govt
Local governments are underneath state governments
US uses this system
Types of Government
Democratic governments
Authoritarian governments
Democratic Government
Democratic regimes = people rule
Representative Democracy- govt where citizens
choose a smaller group to govern on their behalf
Republics- citizens choose leader of the country or
government
Constitutional Monarchy- Monarchy where the power of
the hereditary ruler is limited by the country’s constitution
and laws
Democratic Governments
Direct Democracy- people vote first hand
Democracy works on principle of majority rulemajority of members of a community has the
power t o make laws binding upon all the people
Authoritarian Government
Authoritarian regimes = power held by person/group not
accountable to the people
Autocracy/ Absolute monarchy- monarchs with unlimited and
absolute power
Dictatorship- Leaders (dictators) exercise complete control,
often come into power by force
Authoritarian Governments
Totalitarian- government control extends to almost
all aspects of people’s lives
Socialism- systems where society, either directly or
indirectly through the government, controls all
aspects of the economy
Practiced by some totalitarian states