Transcript Forms of Government

Forms of
Government
How do we classify
government?

We classify government using three
different methods:
Who can Participate
 Geographic Distribution
 Relationship between Branches


A single government can be classified
Who Can Participate?


Separated into Democracy and Dictatorship
Democracy (ex. U.S.)
 People hold the power through voting
 Direct Democracy: people vote on everything
• Does not exist any more
Indirect Democracy: elect people to act on our behalf
Dictatorship (ex. Nazi Germany)
 One person or group holds all the power
 Oldest and most common form of government in the
world


Geographic Distribution


Three categories: Unitary Gov., Federal
Gov., and Confederation
Unitary Government (ex. Great Britain)


Federal Government (ex. U.S.)


All powers in a single central agency
Powers divided between central and local
governments
Confederation (ex. E.U.)


Alliance of independent states
Very weak
Relationship btw Branches


Two categories: Presidential and
Parliamentary
Presidential Government (ex. U.S.)



Separation btw executive and legislative
branches
Branches independent and coequal
Parliamentary Government (ex. Britain and
Israel)


Prime minister is elected leader of the
legislature
P.M. is elected by the legislature