1. Parliament
Senate
Types of Government
Kremlin
Bern/Switzerland

2. Oligarchy Description Example
When a family or small group of people with wealth or power control the government
Example
Saudi Arabia’s
Royal Family 2

3. Autocracy Government by a single person having unlimited power
Often thought of as “bad” because the ruler could have very harsh rulings.

4. Dictatorship A dictatorship consists of rule by
one person or a group of people
Very few dictators admit they are dictators and almost always claim to be leaders of democracies
The dictator may be one person
Castro in Cuba
Hitler in Germany
Or a group of people
The Communist Party in the
former Soviet Union
Add key points in the history of your country to the timeline. 4

5. Dictatorship Description
A leader takes control over the gov’t and has total power
Example
Cuba (Castro) & Iraq (Saddam Hussein) 5

6. Democracy The word “democracy” literally means “rule by the people.”
In a democracy, the people hold the power
Insert a map of your country. 6

7. Direct Democracy Description The power of gov’t is
controlled directly by the people
Example
New England Townhall Meetings 7

8. Representative Democracy
Description
The people elect representatives who then make decisions for them
Example
The United States/Senators
& Represenatives 8

9. Geographic Distribution of Power
Unitary:All government power belongs to a single group.
Federal: Power of the government is divided between a central government and smaller local governments. (state gov’ts)
Confederation: An alliance of individual countries which have the same power/Civil War/Confederacy

10. Parliamentary Democratic Government
The Parliament controls the power
Prime Minister leads the Parliament
Prime Minister is chosen by the majority party in the Parliament, not the majority of the people
Prime Minister & Parliament
share power
Canada/Harper
Gordon Brown/England

11. Presidential Democracy
President controls the final power
The legislative & executive branches are separate but share power
President answers to the voters who elect him

12. Think, Pair, Share DIRECTIONS: on a scrap sheet of paper
THINK - What will likely happen if a government denies power to the people it governs?
PAIR – Read another students answer to the question, then get your paper back and add any comments to your paper
SHARE – tell the class when the teacher calls on you