Who Rules? Types of Governments. What kinds of governments exist? What kinds of leaders can be in charge of a country? Think about everything you’ve ever heard of or learned and add it to this mind map. Type your ideas i
...
Who Rules? Types of Governments. What kinds of governments exist? What kinds of leaders can be in charge of a country? Think about everything you’ve ever heard of or learned and add it to this mind map. Type your ideas into the boxes and, if you can, use your PDF reader's tools to connect the boxes with lines. Keep brainstorming until you run out of room or time! Someone’s Got to Be In Charge
If you compared all the governments in the world, you would find one
thing in common: Someone is in charge. The question is, who? There
are many different forms of government. Some have one leader who
has all the control. Others give power to the people. Here are some
forms of government that exist (or have existed) in the world:
Me, Myself, and I
An autocracy is a government in which one person has all the
power. There are two main types of autocracy: a monarchy
and a dictatorship.
In a monarchy, a king or queen rules the country. The king or
queen is known as a monarch. Monarchs usually come to
power through their family line: The current king or queen’s
oldest child becomes the next king or queen. In some
monarchies, especially those in historical times, the monarch
held all the power and had the final say over the government.
In modern times, monarchs usually share power with other
parts of government. Often they are also subject to the
country’s constitution.
A dictatorship is a form of government where one leader has
absolute control over citizens’ lives. If there is a constitution,
the dictator has control over that, too—so it doesn’t mean
much. Although other parts of the government may exist, such
as courts or a lawmaking body, these branches always do what
the dictator wants them to do. They do not represent citizens.
Power to the People!
In a democracy, citizens hold the political power. There are
two basic types of democracies:
In a representative democracy, citizens elect leaders to
represent their rights and interests in government. The elected
leaders, or representatives, do the day-to-day work of governing
the country: They consider the issues, work to find solutions,
pass laws, and do all of the other things necessary to keep a
country going. Citizens hold the ultimate power, though,
because if they don’t like what their representatives are doing,
they can vote in new ones!
In a direct democracy, there are no representatives. Citizens
are directly involved in the day-to-day work of governing the
country. Citizens might be required to participate in lawmaking
or act as judges, for example. The best example of this was in
the ancient Greek city-state called Athens. Most modern
countries are too large for a direct democracy to work.
Their Majesties King Harald and Queen
Sonja of Norway, which is a constitutional
monarchy. The king is the head of state
and has a mainly ceremonial role. The
government of Norway is a democracy.
Photo: Jørgen Gomnæs, the Royal Court of Norway
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