Citizen Participation in Government Autocratic, Oligarchic, & Democratic Unit 12 Notes

Citizen Participation In each country, the people have different rights to participate in the government. In some countries, any citizen can run for office or vote in elections. In other countries, there are restrictions placed on who can run for office and who can vote. There are also countries where no citizen can vote and there are no elections.

Autocratic Governments have a single ruler with unlimited power people have no ability to participate in the selection of the ruler or in the creation of laws one benefit -- decisions for a country can be made quickly however, the needs of the people may be ignored or unheard leader may make poor or selfish decisions that hurt the people

Autocracies of the World

Oligarchic Governments “rule by the few” country is ruled by a small group of people an advantage is that decisions can be made relatively quickly compared to an autocratic system, oligarchies have more heads to think through problems and should make better choices however, the people do not have a voice…

Democratic Governments This type of government puts the power of the government in the hands of the citizens of the country. All citizens have the opportunity to be a leader, and all citizens have the opportunity to vote for leaders and laws. All citizens are involved in the decision-making process of the government, and all groups are represented. It can be slow to make decisions because all people must discuss & vote on the issues.

This is a “Polity Data Series Map.” It tries to measure a country’s true democracy in government. It gives scores of -10 to +10. The countries in the lightest pink have the highest democracy score, the darker the color, the lower the democracy score.

Democratic Governments There are two predominate forms of democratic governments: Parliamentary Presidential Both are designed to represent and protect the rights of the people.

Parliamentary Democracy Citizens elect members of parliament called MPs. MPs choose a leader from among themselves called the prime minister. The prime minister is the chief executive. heads the military, enforces laws, and keeps the country running day to day prime minister leads the lawmaking body -- parliament

Parliamentary Democracy MPs are elected to serve for a certain amount of time, but parliament can be dissolved and elections held again if the prime minister feels the government is not working well. MPs can vote for a new prime minister in an election.

Parliamentary Democracy The country may have a king or queen with little ruling power or a president who serves as the head of state. In a parliamentary system, the head of state is the symbolic leader of the country, but has little political power. Examples: Australia, Canada, & the UK

Presidential Democracy The citizens elect the members of the legislature and the chief executive. The president serves as the head of state, runs the government, and heads the military. The president does not make the laws--the legislature does this. The president serves for a fixed amount of time, then new elections are held. Examples: US, Mexico, & most South American countries

Government power increases Citizen power increases Autocratic Oligarchic Democratic Citizen power decreases Government power decreases

Australia’s Democracy an elected government runs the country citizens over 18 may vote in an election every 4 years failure to vote can result in a fine and a hearing in court

Australia’s Democracy voters elected members of parliament (MPs) MPs represent the people’s interest in making laws MPs choose a prime minister to lead the country prime minister is the most powerful person in government prime minister recommends a governor-general to the Queen (UK) queen chooses a governor-general to perform duties as head of state and to represent her in Australia