 Some define government based on political views-How is the government run?  Others define the government based on economic views-What role does the government play in how goods are bought and sold?  Sometimes a country’s government incorporates two or more types of government.

 Constitution: A document that describes the structure and powers of a government and the rights of all people in the country.

 Majority: The largest group  Minority: A smaller group

 Legislature: A group of elected officials

 Suffrage: The right to vote

 There are two major forms of government  Limited government: The power of the leader is limited by a constitution.  Unlimited government: The power of the leader is unlimited, meaning the leader can do whatever he wants to.

 Democracy: The people vote and elect their leaders. The people have many rights and freedoms.  Two types of democracy ▪ Direct Democracy: Rule of majority, the people directly vote for their leader and whoever gets the most votes wins. The people vote on all decisions for the country. ▪ Representative Democracy: The people elect representatives to make decisions for them.  Example: India, South Africa, and USA

 The first black president, Nelson Mandela, was elected

 Republic: A form of government where the head of state is an elected president. Most republics are representative democracies, like the USA. However, some republics have presidents that are in office for a long time and are very strict.

 Constitutional Monarchy: There is a king or queen, but he or she has no real power. Instead an elected legislature holds the real power and a constitution gives the people rights and freedoms.  Parliamentary Democracy: When elected representatives meet in parliament to make laws. Many constitutional monarchies also have a parliamentary democracy.  Examples: United Kingdom and Japan

Japan

 Japan has an elected Parliament, who chooses the Prime Minister

 Autocracy: A form of government where all of the power lies with a single person.

 Absolute Monarchy: This type of government has a king or queen that has all of the power.  There are no elections in this type of government. The position of the leader is inherited.  The amount of individual freedoms is determined by how nice the king or queen wants to be.  There are not many absolute monarchies left in the world today.  Example: Saudi Arabia

 Dictatorship: This government is ruled by a single person. The dictator usually keeps control by force. A military dictatorship uses the military to keep control.  Usually there are no elections, but sometimes a dictator comes to power by way of an election.  Typically citizens of a dictatorship have no rights, the government controls all aspects of life.  Example: North Korea

North Korea

 Kim Jong Il died in December 2011 and his youngest son, Kim Jong-Un, became dictator

 Totalitarianism: When the government controls every aspect of the people’s lives and imposes a strict ideology on them. The government has total control. Many dictatorships are considered totalitarian.

 Theocracy: This government is ruled by religious leaders. Often times these leaders are very strict.  Sometimes the religious leaders share power with a president, but the religious leader maintains the real power.  Example: Iran

 Oligarchy: A form of government in which only a small group of wealthy people hold power.  Example: South Africa before 1994, only wealthy whites were allowed to vote

 Communism: This type of government controls the ways of producing goods and thereby the entire economy. With so much power over the economy, the leaders of this type of government tend to rule very strictly and often times are dictators.  There may be “elections” in this type of government, but often there is only one political party, the communist party.  Examples: China and North Korea

 Xi Jinping

 Anarchy: A situation that exists when there is no government. Anarchy usually happens after a civil war when the government has been destroyed by fighting groups.