Forms of Government

Intro In World War II, we talk about Germany being Nazis, the USSR being Communist, and about Italy being fascist. Most of the allies were democracies. Today we’re going to look at what systems of government are, what makes them similar and different, and where they get their power.

Constitutional Government In a constitutional government, there is a Constitution. A constitution is the basic set of rules that a country’s government has to follow. Q: Do governments always follow their constitutions? Examples of constitutional governments: U.S.A., Mexico, Canada, France Constitutions usually define the form that a government takes.

Constitutional Government Forms Almost any form of government can have a constitution: Monarchy Democracy Communism In fact, every recognized government in the world has a constitution of some sort.

Entrenchment, or How Fixed a Constitution Is Some constitutions cannot be changed, even by the governments that they set up. Germany has a partially entrenched constitution, where certain portions of the constitution can’t be changed unless the entire constitution changes. Honduras is the most extreme in this regard, with the constitution stating that nothing in the constitution can be changed at all under any circumstances. That doesn’t stop it from happening sometimes anyway, though.

Entrenchment Continued Most constitutions simply have rules about how the government can change the constitution. In the United States (that’s us, for the record), the government can change the constitution with the approval of both 2/3rds of the house and the Senate, and the approval of 3/4s of the states.

Other forms In some countries, the constitution is not the entity (define) that sets the final law. Some places don’t have a constitution at all. The most obvious example is anarchy, where there is no government. This means no constitution, no “official” leaders, no regulation on business, and no military. Old-school monarchies often didn’t have a constitution. What gave the monarch power instead was “divine right.”

Reality Check What really gives a government power? This concept is actually the foundation of modern thinking on constitutions and the governments that they create.

Answer: The people. If people, as a whole, do not consent to being ruled by the government, then it doesn’t matter what the government says (unless it can stay in power by force). This is how rebellions get started.

Governments and Economic Systems Governments are almost always involved in the economy in some way. The amount of variance in this is very wide and is one of the most important differences between governments.

WWII Governments Italy, led by Benito Mussolini, had fascism, in which a single unit or group has absolute power. This power focuses on building nationalism, controlling business, and actively suppressing any opposition. Germany was under the control of Adolf Hitler, who ruled as a dictator. Technically, his Nazi party was democratic-socialist, but in practice was essentially fascism, like Italy. There was, technically, a constitution, but Hitler was able to override it at will. Japan was a constitutional monarchy, with an Emperor, Hirohito. USSR was a communist autocracy, with Stalin in charge of the nation and a small council in other areas.

More Governments! Socialism: The government owns the means of production and distribution for essentials like food and water, but not of everything. Communism: Everyone in a society is equal and has equal ownership of everything. All land and resources, work is often more formalized. Democracy: The people elect leaders who make decisions. Democracy is compatible with most types of government, and almost all governments claim to be democracies in some fashion. Republic: The term republic means that leaders serve as representatives of the people. They might not be elected by those people. This is why we’re a democratic republic.