Types of Government
Democracy
Defining Democracy
 System of government by the whole population or by all eligible members of a state, typically
through elected representatives
 Not to be confused with a republic where power is held in the people, who exercise their power by
electing representatives
 Today the terms are practically interchangeable
 Founding Fathers used term republic not democracy
 Direct Democracy: All citizens participate directly in government decisions
 Possible in local governments & small societies
 Example: All community members attend town meeting & vote on an issue
 Representative Democracy: Citizens choose representatives to represent their interests in
government decisions
 More efficient in larger societies
 Example: Americans vote for their congressmen and the president to represent their interests in federal
government decisions
Democratic Traditions: Suffrage
 Most democracies share
certain characteristics,
including:
 1918 Germany; Hungary;
Poland
 Suffrage – voting is critical to
democracy
 1920 United States
 Defined by each society or
nation [Think of history of voting
rights in the U.S. over time…
Athens…]
 Women’s Suffrage by Year:
 1919 Luxembourg; Netherlands
 1930 South Africa [whites]
 1931 Spain
 1944 France
 1947 China
 1971 Switzerland
 1913 Norway
 1980 Iraq
 1915 Denmark
 2015 Saudi Arabia
 1917 Armenia; Russia; Latvia
Separation of Powers
 Separation of Powers – distribution of government powers into various branches of
government
 Legislative powers are held by assemblies
 U.S. Congress, British Parliament, The National Assembly [China]
 Executive powers held by Presidents, Prime Ministers, & Chancellors
 President Barack Obama, P.M. David Cameron, Chancellor Angela Merkel
 Judicial powers held by courts
 U.S. Supreme Court, Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
 Administrative powers held by bureaucracies, agencies, ministries, departments…
 British: Ministry of Defense, Department of Education, Scotland Office
 Not all democracies feature strict separation of powers
Constitutional Rules
 Constitutional Rules – most basic outline
of government defined in a constitution
 Can include constitutional monarchies
that clarify powers for symbolic heads of
state & the elected government
 Examples: United States; France; Nigeria;
Ghana; Guatemala; Panama; Sierra
Leone; Iceland
 Notable Exception: Great Britain
Types of Democratic Systems:
Parliamentary
 Voters elect members to the legislature [Parliament]
 Parliament elects its leader, the Prime Minister
 Member of the majority party >> limits gridlock in legislature
 Results in limited separation of powers as executive & legislative functions are intertwined
 Confidence Motion – could result in the removal of PM (or other officials) from power
 Elections can be called at virtually any time
 Can overlap with a constitutional monarchy where the monarch is a ceremonial figurehead
[Queen Elizabeth, for example]
 Criticism: less stability in government because they can change so often
 Examples: United Kingdom; Australia; Canada; Germany; Spain; Italy
Types of Democratic Systems:
Presidential
 Voters elect the legislature [Congress] separately
from the chief executive [President]
 Less prevalent than parliamentary systems
 Sometimes called a “congressional system”
 Criticism: Divided government between Congress
and the President
 Examples: United States; Mexico; Brazil
Types of Democratic Systems:
Semi-Presidential // Hybrid
 Feature a president AND a prime minister
 President is elected b the people
 Tends to focus on foreign policy
 Prime minister responds to the legislature
 Tends to focus on domestic policy
 Different from a parliamentary republic
where the elected head of state is mostly a
figurehead (India)
 Examples: Russia; France; Mongolia
CIA World Factbook Listings
Republic
Constitutional
Monarchy
Parliamentary
Presidential
Communist
Other
Algeria
Armenia
Austria
Brazil
Chad
Chile
Congo
Egypt
El Salvador
Finland
France
Haiti
Italy
Mali
Nigeria
Bahrain
Bhutan
Denmark
Jordan
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Monaco
Morocco
Netherlands
Thailand
United Kingdom
Democracy
Albania
Aruba
Bangladesh
Canada
Croatia
Czech Republic
Greenland
Hungary
Lithuania
New Zealand
Angola
Cameroon
Gabon
Mauritania
Rwanda
China
Cuba
North Korea
Laos
Vietnam
• Afghanistan
[Islamic
Republic]
• Iran
[Theocratic
Republic]
• Oman
[monarchy]
• Saudi Arabia
[monarchy]
Authoritarian
Pres.
Eritrea
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Republic
Estonia
Mauritania
Singapore
Slovenia
United States = “constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition”
Mini-Debate: Can democracy work everywhere?
 The U.S. has a long tradition of “making the world
safe for democracy” and protecting democracy
where it exists
 Can all places adopt democratic systems? Is it
really best to democratize the world?
 Consider:
 Corrupt, bloodshed-ridden elections in African states
 Fate of democracy in Iraq after the U.S. withdrew
troops
 Falling flat of the Arab Spring
 Election of Hamas (a terrorist group) in Palestinian
elections in 2006
 Difficulties for Democracy in the Middle East
 Speak Arabic
 Historic ties to the Ottoman Empire, colonialism,
Muslim Arab conquests, etc.
 92% Islamic
 Islam is a state religion in all Arabic-speaking
countries except Lebanon
 Varying degrees of enforcement / punishment / religious
freedom
 Islamic law incorporated into legal system
 Basic human rights routinely violated
 Women have little political power
 Countries scoring high on the HDI are Persian Gulf oil
states, but they do not address education,
healthcare, & social welfare
Political Parties: A Feature
Common to Almost All Political
Systems
Functions of Political Parties
 Run candidates for office
 Check the other parties
 Inform the public
 Organize the government
 Represent groups of interests
 Simplify choices
 Push philosophies into legislation
Two-Party System
 Two political parties dominate the political system
 Minor parties may exist but have difficulty gaining seats in federal government
 Usually caused by the winner-takes-all electoral system
 Example: Democrats & Republicans in the United States
 Advantages:
 Promotes centrism
 Stable over time
 Simpler labels for candidates
 Maintains tradition
 Disadvantages:
 Partisanship – party members stick together; blame one another for problems
 Increasing disenchantment with parties, esp. among youth voters
 Third parties don’t have a real chance
 Major parties ignore alternative views
Perpetuation of the
Two-Party System
Winner-Takes-All
Rule
Existing parties
make rules to
perpetuate their
power
Only one winner
Strategic Voting /
Wasted Vote
Theory
Fewer parties
flourish
Lack of support >>
no minor parties
form
Voters do not
choose parties not
seen as viable
Multiparty System
 Several parties hold seats in government
 Result of proportional representation electoral systems
 Parliamentary seats allocated on the basis of number of votes each party receives
 Ensures votes carry equal weight
 Requires multi-member constituencies (multiple representatives for each area)
 Some systems allow candidate voting, others only allow party voting
 Examples: European Union; United Kingdom; France; Germany; Mexico
 Advantages:
 Forces parties to form coalitions
 Allows voters more choices to reflect their beliefs & interests
 Permits many voices to be heard in Parliament
 Disadvantages:
 Difficult to win a majority
 Coalitions break up >> Political Instability
 Undue influence of small, extreme parties
 Difficulty in accountability
European Parliament Composition, 2009:
• European People’s Party
• Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats
• Alliance of Liberals & Democrats for Europe
• Greens
• European Conservatives & Reformists
• European United Left – Nordic Green Left
• Europe of Freedom & Democracy
• Non-Inscrits
Authoritarianism
Characteristics
 Single leader or small group with ultimate political authority
 Individualism encouraged only to benefit the state
 Limited political participation
 Human rights subject to the needs of the state
 Not always totalitarianism where the government controls nearly all aspects of the country and individuals’
lives
 Totalitarianism more concerned with ideology
 Totalitarianism a relatively new system; requires advanced technology for collecting intelligence & spreading
propaganda
 Set of policy goals to reform society
 Commonly emerge in times of political, economic, & social instability >> have broad public support initially
 Over time, the public takes a backseat to maintaining the regime at whatever cost
Types of Authoritarianism
 Military Authoritarian System: military is not only privileged but in control of major aspects of
decision-making
 Example: Pincohet in Chile from 1973-1988
 Party Authoritarian System: single political party dominates the system
 Example: Mexico prior to the 1990s reforms; Stalin (although also totalitarian)
 Bureaucratic Authoritarian System: run by the military but rely heavily on experts in economics &
other policy areas, allowing them to set & oversee policy
 Example: Argentina from mid-1960s to mid-1970s
Example: Joseph Stalin
 “Stalinism” = governing & policies implemented by Joseph Stalin
 State terror
 Rapid industrialization
 Collectivized agriculture
 Cult of personality
 Subordination of interests of foreign communist parties to the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
 Purged society of “threats” to communist revolution
 Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, attempted “deStalinization”
Example: Mao Zedong
Example: Augusto Pinochet
Welfare States