Types of Historical and Modern Governments
Governments are institutions that make, interpret, and implement laws for the people in a community. These processes maintain order in society and provide security for citizens.
There have been many different kinds of governments throughout history, and many different kinds exist today. In the United States, a democracy allows citizens to elect representatives and hold them accountable. Monarchies are ruled by kings or queens, and oligarchies concentrate power in the hands of a few. Dictatorships grant a single leader complete authority.
Most governments throughout history can be classified into four basic types: monarchy, oligarchy, dictatorship, and democracy.
In a monarchy, power is held by a king, queen, emperor, or empress. This power is passed down by inheritance and is often held for life. Modern constitutional monarchies limit the monarch's authority through laws or constitutions.
An oligarchy is a political system where power is held by a small group of people. These people are usually members of an upper class such as nobles or military officers. They are not elected by citizens and often prioritize their own interests over the interests of the people.
A dictatorship is a type of government in which a single leader exercises absolute power over nearly every aspect of life in a country, including political, social, and economic issues. The leader, or dictator, is not bound by any rules and cannot be removed through legal means. Elections, if they are permitted, are usually meaningless because no transfer of power is allowed.
In a democracy, citizens exercise power on their own behalf. The earliest democracy was established in the mid-5th century BCE in Athens, an ancient Greek city-state. This was a direct democracy in which all citizens participated directly in making laws and in the government. Today's democracies in most large nations are representative democracies in which citizens elect representatives to carry out the functions of government. In a democracy, every citizen has a vote, either directly or through elected representatives, in how the country is governed. When the head of state is a person elected by voters (rather than a hereditary constitutional monarch), this form of government is called a republic.
