Do Now
.
Monday-1. Name the Mayor of Atlanta
2. Who is the Governor of Georgia?
Tuesday- Who has the power in a Unitary System? Name a
country in the Middle East that has this type of government
Wednesday- Who has the power in a confederation
government?
Thursday- What is a weakness of a Confederation
Government?
What are the characteristics of an autocratic and an
oligarchy government system?
Explain in two or more paragraphs what you learned this
week
Forms of Governments
Today’s Standard
SS7CG4 The student will compare and
contrast various forms of government.
a. Describe the ways government
systems distribute power: unitary,
confederation, and federal.
b. Explain how governments determine
citizen participation: autocratic,
oligarchic, and democratic.
Student will be able to……
describe distribution of power as it relates
to unitary, confederation, and federal
governments and explain how citizens
particpate in autocratic, oligarhic, and
democratic governments with 85%
accuracy.
Flipbook Layout
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1st Top flap – Types of Government-(Your Name and period on
the top
2nd Flap – What is Government
3rd Flap –Unitary Government
4th Flap – Confederation Government
5th Flap- Federal Government
6th Flap – Autocratic Government
7th Flap- Oligarchy
8th Democratic System
9th Parliamentary Democracy
10th-Presidential Democracy
Inside the book
On the forms tab we need the following
information:
1.
Define
2.
Give a country example
3.
Where is the power and how does it
flow
4.
Draw a picture to represent
What is Government?
The government is the system that
controls the country. It is a combination
of laws, rules, decisions, and actions
that keep a country running. It tells you
how fast to drive, what taxes to pay, and
when we go to war.
To study governments, geographers
look at the following:
Types – Who rules and who
participates.
Systems – How the power is
distributed.
Systems of Government are based
on one question: How is the
power distributed?
There are three ways governments
distribute power:
Unitary
 Confederation
 Federal

Unitary
One central government controls
everything.
Power is not shared between states,
counties or provinces.
Examples : Saudi Arabia
Confederation
A voluntary association of independent states
that agrees to follow a powerful central
government.
Nations can choose to follow or not follow the
lead of the weak central government.
Examples: League of Arab States, OPEC.
Federal
Power is shared by a powerful central
government.
States or provinces are given
considerable self rule, usually through
their own legislatures.
Examples: United States, Germany
Types of Government are based on
one key question: Who governs and
what is the citizen participation?
There are three types of governments:

Autocracy, Oligarchy, and Democracy
Autocracy
Autocracy- The ruler has absolute
power to rule and enforce laws. The
people are told what to do.
#1 Dictatorship
The leader has not been
elected and uses force
to control all aspects of
social and economic life.
Examples: Saudi Arabia,
Adolf Hitler in Germany
and Joseph Stalin in the
Soviet Union
#2 Absolute
Monarchy
A monarchy has a king, queen, emperor
or empress.
The power is usually inherited or
passed down from family members.
The monarch has absolute power
meaning they can make all decisions
without consulting anyone.
#3 Constitutional Monarchy
Kings, queens or emperors share power
with elected legislatures.
Generally the Kings are northing more
than figureheads.
The government is a democratic one
that limits the monarchs power.
Example: Kuwait, Great Britain
Oligarchy
A government in which a few people
such as a dominant clan or clique have
power.
The group gets their power from either
military, wealth or social status.
Elections may be held but offer
only one candidate.
Examples: Syria, Greek city states
Democracy
In a democracy, the government is
“Rule by the people”
There are two forms of democracy
Direct Democracy – People vote on all the
issues.
 Representative Democracy – People elect
representatives and give them the power to
vote on issues.


Example: United States
Democratic Governments
There are two major forms of
democratic governments:
Parliamentary
 Presidential

COMPARE AND CONTRAST
GOVERNMENT OF THE
USA (Presidential
Democracy)
GOVERNMENT OF The Middle
East (Parliamentary
Democracy)
In a democracy….
Individual freedom and equality is
valued.
Free elections are held
Decisions are based on majority rule.
All candidates can express their views
freely.
Citizens vote by secret ballot.
Parliamentary Democracy
Voters elect members to the Parliament
(legislature)
Parliament has two Houses:


House of Commons: The Political Party with the
most votes in the House of Commons chooses the
Prime Minister, the government’s leader with no
set length of term.
House of Lords: Little power with most members
being nobles having inherited their titles
Presidential Democracy
Voters elect legislators
Voters elect (indirectly) the president.

Therefore, in the presidential system voters
have a more direct say about those who
serve in two branches of the government :
Legislative
 Executive

Parliamentary
System
Presidential System
Executive
Executive
Select
Legislative
Elect
Legislative
Citizens
Citizens
Parliamentary v. Presidential Systems:
Comparative Framework
United States - Separation
of powers
Canada - Fusion of Powers
Putting it all together….
The United Kingdom is an autocratic
constitutional monarchy with a
parliamentary democracy and a unitary
system.
The United States is a presidential
democracy with a federal system.
What do those statements mean?
What do you remember?
What are the three types of
governments?
What are the three systems of
government?
Homework
Read The Government of Canada section
(195-196) and answer the reading check
question.