1. Government Terms

2. Citizen Participation & Power Distribution
In social studies we divide the different types of government into
systems of citizen participation &
systems of power distribution.
Citizen participation describes how much control citizens have over their government and the amount of individual freedoms in a country.
Power distribution describes how power is shared (or not shared) by different levels in the government.

3. Systems of Citizen Participation
Use the icons as visual references.

4. autocratic

5. Autocratic (autocracy)
a country or nation where citizens have little or no say in the government because it is run by a single person with unlimited power

6. oligarchic

7. Oligarchic (oligarchy)
government by the few, sometimes a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes. The citizen has a very limited role

8. democratic

9. Democratic (democracy)
a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

10. More systems of Citizen Participation
Each of these is some form of Autocratic, Oligarchic, or Democratic system. The icons will help you figure them out.

11. republic

12. Republic
a government in which the people elect representatives to make the laws

13. Republic notes “Representative Democracy”
All modern democracies function as republics.
Originally created in Rome.

14. dictatorship

15. Dictatorship
a system of government in which the ruler has absolute power and is not restricted by laws or a constitution

16. Dictatorship notes Dictators usually take power by force.
They maintain their power through violence and intimidation.
Common examples of dictatorships include:
Cuba
Germany under Hitler (WWII)
Iraq under Saddam Hussein

17. theocracy

18. Theocracy
a government ruled by a religious leader or leaders

19. Theocracy notes Theocracies can be autocratic or oligarchic.
Leader of country holds a religious title.
Laws will be based on holy book.
Example:
Iran

20. absolute monarchy

21. absolute monarchy (or just monarchy)
ruled by a monarch who usually inherits the authority

22. Absolute monarchy notes
Title of the leader can be king, queen, prince, princess, emperor, duke, etc.
Power comes from family.
Very rare today. Most of them are in SW Asia, along Persian Gulf:
Saudi Arabia

23. constitutional monarchy

24. Constitutional Monarchy
a government ruled by a King or a Queen whose power is determined by the nation’s constitution and laws

25. Constitutional monarchy notes
Monarch’s job is mainly ceremonial
Greet visiting leaders, have their face on the money, etc.
Traditions help hold society together.
Important symbol of the country
Ex: Great Britain, Canada, Australia

26. constitutional monarch as a national symbol
Queen Elizabeth II on British currency

27. God save the Queen
God save our gracious Queen Long live our noble Queen God save the Queen Send her victorious Happy and glorious Long to reign over us God save the Queen
2. O Lord our God arise Scatter her enemies And make them fall Confound their politics Frustrate their knavish tricks On Thee our hopes we fix God save us all

28. constitutional monarch as a protector of stability
Thai King Rama IX intervenes to end violence in 1992

29. Two types of Democracy

30. presidential democracy
Leader of Govt / President
Legislature/
Congress
presidential democracy

31. Presidential Democracy
a system of government in which the president is constitutionally independent of the legislature

32. Presidential: short definition
System where the president is chosen in a separate election from the legislature.

33. parliamentary democracy
Leader of Govt / Prime Minister
Legislature/
Parliament
parliamentary democracy

34. Parliamentary Democracy
a system of government having the real executive power vested in a cabinet composed of members of the legislature who are individually and collectively responsible to the legislature. May have a Prime Minister elected by the legislature.

35. Parliamentary: short definition
System where the legislature has all the power and the leader of the legislature (parliament) is the leader of the country.

36. Systems of Power Distribution
How the government is organized.

37. unitary

38. Unitary (alternate definition)
government in which power is held by one central authority

39. Unitary notes / characteristics
All authority is held at one level, the national government.
All laws are national laws.
Unitary is NOT the same as autocratic.
This is about how the government is organized, not how citizens participate. Lots of democratic countries are unitary, like England.
Unitary systems are easy to set up, because there is only the one level of government, but usually doesn’t work well with large countries.
Most common type of power distribution.

40. confederation

41. Confederation
voluntary associations of independent states that, to secure some common purpose, agree to certain limitations on their freedom of action and establish some joint machinery of consultation or deliberation

42. Confederation notes / characteristics
Confederations are fairly uncommon.
All the authority is held by regional / state governments.
The connection between the different governments are fairly weak.
The European Union (EU) would be considered a confederation
Other groups that are like confederations include (though, none of these are actually considered governments)
OPEC
United Nations
NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The U.S. was a confederation during the Revolutionary War, but this system did not work well.

43. federal

44. Federal
characterized by or constituting a form of government in which power is divided between one central and several regional authorities

45. Federal notes / characteristics
The United States uses a federal system.
There is usually a strong central (national) government that shares authority with state / regional governments
Authority is shared or distributed
In the U.S. most laws come from the state level.
This can be good because different states often have different issues to deal with.
Because the different levels in a federal system can get complicated, it usually doesn’t work well for a small country.