Government Terms

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

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

27. Two types of Democracy

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

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

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

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

32. 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.

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

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

35. unitary

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

37. 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.

38. confederation

39. 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

40. 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.

41. federal

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

43. 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.