Types of Government

1. Types of Government The Evolution of Government Rule from One to Many

2. Autocracy: The First Government • This is the oldest and most common type of government rule. • Often the leader comes to power by inheritance or through military conquest. • Many of the ancient world empires ruled through an autocracy, including Babylon, Egypt, and Persia.

3. Autocracy • An autocracy is “rule by one.” • The gov’t seeks to control all aspects of economic and social control of life. • Current autocracies include North Korea, Cuba, and many North African states. • This type of government is the easiest to begin a state with and make decisions.

4. Leaders in an Autocracy • Totalitarian dictator – the leader’s ideas become the center of the state. Rules by force. Many dictators can still be found in Africa. • Absolute monarch – rules with absolute power given to them by a superior power. Most monarchies are found in the Middle East. Muammar Khadafi former leader of Libya King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia

5. Ancient China Ruled by the Warlords and Nobles • Ancient China was neither ruled by one person or ruled by the people because its’ large land mass made it too difficult to control. • Instead, warlords and the wealthy ruled China in smaller regions. • These states often are led by people that either wealthy or violent.

6. Oligarchy • An oligarchy is “rule by a few.” • This group may obtain their power from their wealth, military power, social position, or, more commonly, their political party. • Many of these types of governments are found throughout Asia.

7. Oligarchic Rule • Oligarchies claim their rule “for the people.” • To show that they are for the people, they often hold elections or have a legislative branch of their government. • Often, oligarchies suppress all political opposition.

8. Theocracy • The idea for theocracy began during the religious Reformation in Europe. • John Calvin believed that God should be the center of a persons life and that the Church and the religious leaders should fulfill that role. • Calvinists created a theocracy in Geneva, Switzerland based on his political ideas given by God. • Calvin would use the Bible to answer the political questions of society.

9. Who Rules in a Theocracy • A theocracy is “rule by God” or religious leaders. • This type of leadership gains its authority from religious texts (Bible / Koran). • Iran is ruled by the Ayatollahs or Muslim clerics. They make the spiritual and political decisions for Iran though everyday decisions is given to the President. • If the two views conflict, the Ayatollahs authority is supreme.

10. Power of God • Theocracies have a great deal of power because of the religious beliefs and loyalties of the people it governs. • The government does not have to show force over the people because they fear a deity more than any man. Ayatollah Khamenei President Ahmadinejad Iranian crowd supporting former Ayatollah Khomenei

11. Athenians Become Democratic • A leader of ancient Athens, Pericles decided to change power from one to the many. • Pericles declared, “Our constitution is named a democracy because it is in the hands not of the few, but of the many.” • He believed that every man had a stake in the success of Athens and therefore, should be involved in every decision that affected the state.

12. Democracy • Democracy is “rule by the people.” • The most important part of a democracy is that the people are sovereign. • Abraham Lincoln said democracy is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

13. The Direct Democracy • In a direct democracy, the people vote directly on issues. • In Athens, men would cast a white stone for agreement with a decision or a black stone for disagreement. The majority of stones would determine the outcome. • In a bit of irony, Pericles was banished from Athens by a majority vote. • There are no direct democracies known today. Why do you think that is?

14. Ancient Rome Expands on the Greek Idea of Democracy • Wanting to continue with a democratic rule, Romans felt that their state was too large to control through a direct democracy. • Instead they turn to a representative democracy, where Roman wealthy and influential Roman citizens would become Roman Senators to represent the ideas of the people in their spheres of influence. • This Roman Republic was brought together to make decisions more quickly and thoroughly.

15. Life Stinks… • Thomas Hobbes viewed man as self-centered and evil at heart. • Without some rules and government control, man would cease to exist. • Man would have to give up control of his own actions to save his interests and create a better life. • This is the known as the social contract. Life is “…nasty, brutish, and short.”

16. Power Belongs to the People • John Locke wrote “Two Treatises of Civil Government.” • While the people give up their personal power to be governed, Locke believed that all men have rights that cannot be taken away from them no matter what. • These natural rights include the rights to life, liberty, and property. • The government does not have the power to infringe on these freedoms.

17. Power Is Shared Between the People and Government • John Jacques Rousseau wrote “The Social Contract.” • At the foundation of his thought on government and authority is the idea of the "social contract," in which government and authority enter a contract which implies that the people agree to be ruled only so that their rights, property and happiness be protected by their rulers. Once rulers cease to protect the ruled, the social contract is broken and the people are free to choose another type of government.

18. The Modern Democracy • Unlike the Romans, modern democracies are represented by the common man and not the wealthy or better educated. • This is a better reflection of the common man’s voices to be heard on an even larger scale. • Modern representative democracies include Canada, England, and the U.S.