Government!
•It can be confusing because much like history, there can bemany layers and things don’t always fit into a nice, neatcategory.
For example, the State of Israel is classified as aparliamentary democracy while Canada is classified as aconstitutional monarchy, a parliamentary democracy and afederation.
•Most countries have their form of government listed in theirofficial country name.
For example, Brazil’s conventional long form name is theFederative Republic of Brazil and its government type is a FederalRepublic. This is not always accurate as North Korea’s official nameis the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and its governmenttype is a Communist state one-man dictatorship (CIA WorldFactbook).
•Countries do not design their government systems to fitinto categories. Therefore, a government may haveaspects of more than one system. Sources that attemptto categorize may sometimes conflict.
For example, Switzerland may be listed as a Federalsystem (Forum of Federations) on one site and aConfederation on another (Center for CivicEducation– Constitution Day lesson). China may belisted as a Unitary system on one source and aFederal system on another (Scholastic/GrolierOnline).
•Rather than focus on classifying a country’s government,we should focus on the characteristics of governmentsystems.
Continuum
Unitary
Federal
Confederation
Unitary, Confederation, andFederal
•Unitary, confederation and federal systemsdescribe the ways in which governmentsystems distribute power– the relationshipbetween the national or central governmentand the smaller governmental divisions (states,provinces, counties and cities).
Unitary
In this form of government, the central government has most of the power. Thecentral government decides how much power each of its states will have. Anexample of this will be United Kingdom, France, Italy, Costa Rica, and Cuba.
State
CentralGovernment
State
State
State
Federal/Federation/Federalism
In this type of government, the power is divided between the centralgovernment and its states. An example of this is the United States, Canada,Mexico, Australia, Germany, and Spain.
CentralGovernment
State
State
State
State
Confederation
In this type of government the states have all of the power. The centralgovernment has very little power. An example of this is Switzerland and theEuropean Union.
CentralGovernment
State
State
State
State
On a continuum, unitary would be on one end,with all key powers being held by the centralgovernment and confederation would be onthe other end with state/regional authoritiesholding most of the power, creating a muchweaker central authority.A federal system is in the middle with powerbeing divided between the central governmentand regional governments. Some powers residewith the central government, some powersreside with the regional governments, and somepowers are shared.
Unitary, Federal, Confederation
Autocratic, Oligarchic, andDemocratic
The elements dealing with autocratic, oligarchic and
democratic types of governments focus on how citizenparticipation is determined.
Autocracy
In an autocracy, where most dictators maintain theirposition via inheritance or military power, the citizen haslittle, if any, role in the government. People who try tospeak out against the government are often silencedthrough use of power.
Oligarchy
In an oligarchy, a small group exercises control. Communistcountries are mostly oligarchies. The citizen has a verylimited role in government.
Democracy
In a democracy, supreme power is vested in the peopleand exercised by them directly or indirectly through asystem of representation usually involving periodicallyheld free elections.
