Monarchy
• It is headed by a single member of a royal family, usually a king or queen.
• In earlier times, many monarchs claimed that God had granted them to rule.
• Typically they governed on the basis of traditional forms of authority.
(E.g. Thailand = Constitutional monarchy.)
Oligarchy
• It is a form of government in which a few individuals rule.
• It is a rather old method of governing that flourished in ancient Greece and Egypt.
• Today, it often takes the form of military rule.
• In developing nations, small factions of military officers will forcibly seize power,
either from legally elected regimes or from other small groups.
Dictatorship
• It is a government in which one person has nearly total power to make and enforce
laws.
• They rule through the use of coercion, which often includes torture and executions.
• Typically, they seize power rather than being elected.
Totalitarianism
• It is when dictators develop such overwhelming control over people’s lives.
• It involves virtually complete government control and surveillance over all aspects of
people’s life.
(E.g. Germany during Hitler’s reign, or North Korea today.)
Democracy
• It is the government by the people.
• The word “democracy” comes from Greek. “demos” means “the common people,” and
“kratia” (> cracy) means “rules.”