Chapter 3
Types of Government
Three ways to classify governments:
1. Systems of government
2. Relationship between levels of
government
3. Methods of selecting the executive
Systems of Government

Popular government
 Democracy
○ Direct Democracy
○ Indirect Democracy
 Republic
Dictatorship
 Anarchy

Popular Governments
The people participate.
 Direct democracy – people directly
affect government’s policies & actions

 Very rare today
 “Today direct democracy is rare because of
geographic and population limitations.”
 Agree or disagree?
Popular Governments
Indirect democracy – people choose
their peers to operate government on
their behalf (or REPRESENT them).
 Republic – “a state in which the
supreme power rests in the people and
their elected representatives or officers.

Dictatorship
In a dictatorship, the government acts
without the consent of the people.
 Totalitarianism- a ruling class holds
absolute power and seeks to exercise
control over every aspect of people’s
lives.
 Autocracy – rule by 1 person with
supreme authority
 Oligarchy – rule by an elite group

Anarchy
An absence of government
 Because of human depravity, typically
anarchy, instead of leading to maximum
liberty, leads to a state of lawlessness.
 Jeremiah 17:9

 The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?
Types of Government
Three ways to classify governments:
1. Systems of government
2. Relationship between levels of
government
Relationship Between Levels of
Government
1. Unitary
 2. Federal
 3. Confederate

Relationship Between Levels of
Government

Unitary Governments
 Power resides in central government
 All power from the people (unlike
dictatorship)
 Local units may help administer
government.
 Examples: Great Britain, Japan, France,
Israel
Relationship Between Levels of
Government
Federal Governments – Federalism
 Power is divided among national,
regional, and local governments.
 Usually governed by a constitution
which specifies the powers and
responsibilities of each level.
 Examples: United States, Brazil, India

Relationship Between Levels of
Government
Confederate Governments
 Regional governments retain supremacy
and delegate some tasks to the national
government.
 Examples: Articles of Confederation,
Confederate States of America,
European Union (EU)

Types of Government
Three ways to classify governments:
1. Systems of government
2. Relationship between levels of
government
3. Methods of selecting the executive
Methods of Selecting the
Executive
Presidential System – people directly
elect the president.
 Question: Do the people directly elect
the President of the United States?
 Answer: No. The Electoral College
elects the president.

Methods of Selecting the
Executive

Parliamentary System
 People elect their representatives to
Parliament.
○ Candidate of the
party with the most votes
in each district wins.
 The majority party in the parliament chooses
the executive (prime minister).
 Examples: Great Britain, France, Japan,
Indonesia
Which
system is
better: Presidential or
Parliamentary?

p. 37
Types of Government by System
List and explain.
Levels of American Government
National
 State
 Local

National Government

The U.S. Constitution LIMITS the power
of the national government by allowing it
to have certain DELEGATED POWERS.
National Government
Legislative Branch
 Executive Branch
 Judicial Branch

Legislative Branch



Makes the laws
Closest ties to the
people: directly
elected
Two houses
 House of
Representatives
 Senate
Executive Branch




Enforces the laws
President
Vice President
Advisors
○ EOP
○ Cabinet
Judicial Branch




Interprets the laws
Are the laws passed
by Congress and
the states consistent
with the
Constitution?
Supreme Court
Lower Courts
State Government
Fifty (50) states
 States keep all power not delegated to
the national government (RESERVED
POWERS) or prohibited to the states by
the Constitution (PROHIBITED
POWERS).
 States all have their own constitutions.

State Government

Reserved Powers– 10th Amendment
 Police, educate, land-use laws, licensing,
etc.

Prohibited Powers – Keeps certain
powers in the hands of the national
government.
 Coin money, make treaties, import/export
taxes, raise a military force in peacetime,
etc.
State Government

Separation of Powers – State
governments have the same 3 branches
as the national (federal) government.
 Legislative, Executive, Judicial
State Government
Legislative
 May be BICAMERAL (two houses) or
UNICAMERAL (one house).

State Government
Executive – Governor
 Lieutenant governor

State Government
Judicial – courts
 May be elected by the people or
APPOINTED by the governor or
legislature

Local Government
Counties – divided into precincts
 Municipalities – cities, villages, towns
 Municipalities exist by incorporating
when its population gets to a certain
level.
 Municipalities get a charter (like a
constitution) from the state.

Review Quiz
What are the levels of U.S. government?
 What are the branches of U.S.
government?
 What is the function of the legislative
branch?
 What is the function of the executive
branch?
 What is the function of the judicial
branch?

Answers
1. national, state, local
 2. legislative, executive, judicial
 3. make laws
 4. enforce the laws
 5. interpret the laws
