Reading: Who Rules?
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
fundamental 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.
We, Ourselves, and… um… Us
In an oligarchy (OH-lih-gar-kee), a small group of people has all
the power. Oligarchy is a Greek word that means “rule by a few.”
Sometimes this means that only a certain group has political
rights, such as members of one political party, one social class, or
one race. For example, in some societies, only noble families who
owned land could participate in politics. An oligarchy can also
mean that a few people control the country. For example, a
junta is a small group of people—usually military officers—who
rule a country after taking it over by force. A junta often operates
much like a dictatorship, except that several people share power.
Religious Rule
A theocracy is a government that recognizes God or a divine being
as the ultimate authority. (“Theo” is a Greek word that means god.)
In a theocracy, religious law is used to settle disputes and rule the
people. A theocracy can also be a democracy, dictatorship, monarchy,
or just about any other kind of government. For example, the
Republic of Iran recognizes Islamic law, but Iran’s citizens vote to
elect their leaders. Modern theocracies are usually found in countries
where the population is strongly religious.
Rule by None
In an anarchy, nobody is in control—or everyone is, depending on how
you look at it. Sometimes the word anarchy is used to refer to an out-of-control mob. When it comes to government, anarchy would be one way
to describe the human state of existence before any governments
developed. It would be similar to the way animals live in the wild, with
everyone looking out for themselves. Today, people who call themselves
anarchists usually believe that people should be allowed to freely
associate together without being subject to any nation or government.
There are no countries that have anarchy as their form of government.
