Governments

1. Governments Who is in Charge? • Oligarchy • Autocracy • Democracy Where is the Power? • Unitary Government • Federal Government • Confederation Government

2. Unitary Government Power • In a unitary government, the Central government has most of the authority and decision-making power • Local government offices are partof the Central government • Central Government maintains all power over the Local Governments • Unitary governments may not be less democratic (when ordinary citizens get to vote) thanother forms- it depends on who is in charge!

3. Unitary Government Central Government Has all the power The Local Governments are not separate, but are smaller parts of the Central government Local Government Local Government Local Government Same as Central Same as Central Same as Central

4. Unitary Governments of the World

5. Examples of Unitary Governmentsin the World • Europe: France, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom (Great Britain) • Central and South America: Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru

6. Federal Government Power • In a Federal Government- power is split between a central government authority and the local governments (like the United States) • an overriding “law of the land,” known as a constitution, allocates (gives out) duties, rights, and privileges to each level of government • The constitution usually defines how power is shared between national, state, and local governments

7. Federal Government- power of the Central government is separate from State Government Central Government State Governments The Federal Constitution Laws Rule Both Central and State

8. Federal Governments all over the WHOLE WORLD! • Government of Australia • Government of Belgium • Government of Brazil • Government of Canada • Government of Germany • Government of India • Government of Malaysia • Government of Mexico • Government of Russia • Government of Switzerland • Government of the United States

9. Confederation Government Power • A confederation is a group of empowered states or communities, usually created by treaty but often later creating a common constitution (rule of laws) • Confederations usually deal with issues such as defense, foreignaffairs, foreigntrade, and a common currency, with the centralgovernment being required to provide support for all members • Difference between Federation and Confederation: • Membership in a Confederation is VOLUNTARY, while membership in a Federation is NOT • A Confederation has no real direct powers • Any changes to the constitution (usually a treaty), require unanimity (everyone must agree by vote)

10. Canadian Confederation Fathers of the Canadian Confederation In Canada, Confederation means the British North America Act, in 1867 which united four colonies of British North America (Province of Upper Canada, Province of Lower Canada, Province of New Brunswick and Province of Nova Scotia). Even though the word "confederation”, is sometimes used for Canada’s government, Canada is really a federal state.

11. How citizens participate • Autocracy- rule of one • Oligarchy- rule of a few • Democracy- rule of majority • Autocracy can be a dictatorship - rule by one person– like Cuba • Oligarchy is government by a small group –like Myanmar, Fiji – and some say Russia is becoming an oligarchy again • Democracy is rule by the people or their, freely and informed, elected representatives -- like USA, Mexico

12. Autocracy Rule of One All Government decisions are made by one person Citizens have little or no real choice about Government Decisions

13. Autocracies of the World An autocratic government is when only the government can make the decisions. So, the people who live in a country with an autocratic government have no say in creating their country’s laws

14. Oligarchy • Rule of the few: • Generally the people who are richer and more powerful than the others, what you might call the aristocrats or the nobles • Sometimes they may be elected, and sometimes they are born into their position, and at other times you might have to have a certain amount of money or land in order to have any power in government • Oligarchies are generally bad for the poor, but they are pretty good for rich people from powerful families

15. Oligarchy Ruled by a few Ordinary citizens usually don’t have a vote or a voice in their government This is a few cooties

16. Democracy • Democracy means the rule of the people (in Greek). That is where each individual person has a vote about what to do. Whatever the most people vote for wins. There is no king or dictator, and anybody can propose a new law • One problem for a democracy is that it is very inconvenient for people to always be going to vote for laws. People have jobs! So, most democracies usually elect a few people who will do most of the everyday voting, and the rest of the votes only come when there is a really important law to pass. It is hard to decide how to choose these few people to be representatives! This is called Representative Democracy

17. These are the countries in the world today that “claim” to be a democracy-meaning the citizens rule themselves Do you think ALL of these countries are a TRUE Democracy?

18. This is a “Polity Data Series Map” It tries to measure a country’s true democracy in government It gives scores of -10 to +10. The countries in the lightest pink have the highest democracy score, the darker the color, the lower the democracy score Just because a country let’s ordinary people vote, doesn’t mean that the citizens’ votes REALLY COUNT!

19. Democracy Ruled by majority –or- by the people In a true democracy, all citizens gets to vote, and every vote counts! What is this person doing?

20. Types of Democracy Presidential Democracy • is when the executive (usually called the president) is separate from the legislature (the part of government that passes laws). • The president is not accountable to the legislature, and the legislature does not have power over the president. The branches of government areseparate from each other Parliamentary Democracy • is when the executive, (sometimes called the Prime Minister) is dependent on the support of the legislature (often termed the parliament), by giving a “vote of confidence.” • The branches of government are not clearly separate from each other

21. orange - parliamentary republics green - presidential republics, executive presidency linked to a parliament yellow - presidential republics, semi-presidential system blue - presidential republics, presidential democracy full presidential system red - parliamentaryconstitutional monarchies in which the monarch does not personally exercise power magenta - constitutional monarchies in which the monarch personally exercises power, often (but not always) alongside a weak parliament purple - absolute monarchies brown - republics where the dominant role of a single party is codified in the constitution beige - states where constitutional provisions for government have been suspended grey - countries which do not fit any of the above systems I think this one is my favorite! Wow-this is a lot of governments!

22. Presidential Democracy Separate Powers US President John Kennedy US Congress Parliamentary Democracy Executive must have a Vote of Confidence From Parliament Prime Minister Great Britain- Gordon Brown Great Britain Parliament

23. Parliamentary Democracies around the World Places in green have a head of state and head of government, like a presidential democracy, but the office is filled by parliament's choice and not elected separately.

24. Presidential Democracies of the World The Presidential democracies are BLUE