Form of government

From Wikinfo

A form of government is a system by which a state is governed, a wide range of different forms of government have been suggested and/or used in practice. The following is a list of common forms of government. Note that in practice, it is possible to combine multiple simple forms in a government.

• Anarchism
  • Libertarian socialism
  • Anarcho-capitalism

• Autocracy and Dictatorship
  • Despotism
    • Military Junta
  • Monarchy
    • Absolute monarchy
    • Constitutional monarchy
    • Popular monarchy
    • Hereditary monarchy
    • Elective monarchy
    • self-proclaimed monarchy
  • Kleptocracy

• Oligarchy
  • Aristocracy
  • Meritocracy
  • Plutocracy
  • Technocracy
  • Theocracy

• Democracy
  • Direct democracy
  • Semi-direct democracy
  • Representative democracy
    • Westminster system
    • Parliamentary system
    • Presidential system
    • Semi-presidential system
    • Congressional system

• Political parties
  • One party system
  • One party dominant system
  • Multi-party system

• Republic
  • Classical definition of republic
  • Socialist republic
  • Soviet Republic
  • Islamic republic
  • Banana republic

• Head of State
  • President
  • Monarch
    • Emperor

• Head of Government
  • Prime Minister

• Cabinet
  • Minister
  • Secretary
  • Secretary of State
  • Attorney General

List by political franchise

This list will attempt to show a division based on political franchise (suffrage).

• rule by one
  • good form: monarchy; bad form: tyranny
• rule by minority
  • good form: aristocracy; bad form: oligarchy
• rule by majority
  • good form: democracy; bad form: ochlocracy
• rule by combination or mixed government
  • a classical republic

Socialism, Communism and Fascism are more socio-economic movements, but their strong ties to governmental control and policy have won them some recognition as methods of government.

See also

• Aristotle's Schema of governmental forms

Attribution

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Form of government]]" http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_of_government July 26, 2003