Depending on the particular system in use, it might entail passing executive decisions, making laws, directly electing or dismissing officials, and conducting trials. Two leading forms of direct democracy are participatory democracy and deliberative democracy.
The earliest known direct democracy is said to be the Athenian Democracy in the 5 th century BCE, although it was not an inclusive democracy; women, foreigners, and slaves were excluded from it. In the direct democracy of Athens, the electorate did not nominate representatives to vote on legislation and executive bills on their behalf as in the United States Congress , but instead voted on these items in their own right.
Participation was by no means open, but the in-group of participants was constituted with no reference to economic class and they participated on a large scale. The public opinion of voters was remarkably influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters.
Also relevant is the history of Roman republic, beginning circa BCE. Modern-era citizen lawmaking began in the towns of Switzerland in the 13 th century CE. Currently in Switzerland, single majorities are sufficient at the town, city, and canton level, but at the national level, double majorities are required on constitutional matters. Direct democracy was very much opposed by the framers of the United States Constitution and some signatories of the Declaration of Independence.
They saw a danger in majorities forcing their will on minorities. As a result, they advocated a representative democracy in the form of a constitutional republic over a direct democracy. For example, James Madison, in Federalist No. Representative democracy is a variety of democracy founded on the principle of elected people representing a group of people. For example, three countries which use representative democracy are the United States of America a representative democracy , the United Kingdom a constitutional monarchy and Poland a republic.
It is an element of both the parliamentary system and presidential system of government and is typically used in a lower chamber such as the House of Commons UK or Bundestag Germany. According to Freedom House, in there were electoral democracies — up from 40 in According to World Forum on Democracy, electoral democracies now represent of the existing countries and constitute At the same time, liberal democracies—countries Freedom House regards as free and respectful of basic human rights and the rule of law—are 85 in number and represent 38 percent of the global population.
Unlike democracy, authoritarianism and totalitarianism are forms of government where an individual or a single-party concentrates all power. Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority as well as the administration of said authority. In politics, an authoritarian government is characterized by highly concentrated and centralized power maintained by political repression and the exclusion of potential challengers.
It uses political parties and mass organizations to mobilize people around the goals of the regime. Authoritarianism emphasizes arbitrary law rather than the rule of law, including election rigging and political decisions being made by a select group of officials behind closed doors. An autocracy is a system of government in which a supreme political power is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control.
By contrast, a single-party state is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election.
Typically, single-party states hold the suppression of political factions, except as transitory issue oriented currents within the single party or permanent coalition as a self-evident good. Totalitarianismis an extreme version of authoritarianism. Authoritarianism primarily differs from totalitarianism in that social and economic institutions exist free from governmental control.
By contrast, totalitarianism is a political system where the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever necessary. However, a totalitarian regime attempts to control virtually all aspects of the social life, including economy, education, art, science, private life, and morals of citizens. The concept became prominent in Western anti-communist political discourse during the Cold War era in order to highlight perceived similarities between Nazi Germany and other fascist regimes on the one hand, and Soviet communism on the other.
Zbigniew Brzezinski : A number of thinkers, including Zbigniew Brzezinski, have argued that Nazi and Soviet regimes were equally totalitarian. Political scientists Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski were primarily responsible for expanding the usage of the term in university social science and professional research, reformulating it as a paradigm for the Soviet Union as well as fascist regimes.
For Friedrich and Brzezinski, the defining elements were intended to be taken as a mutually supportive organic entity composed of the following: an elaborating guiding ideology; a single mass party, typically led by a dictator; a system of terror; a monopoly of the means of communication and physical force; and central direction, and control of the economy through state planning. Such regimes had initial origins in the chaos that followed in the wake of World War I, at which point the sophistication of modern weapons and communications enabled totalitarian movements to consolidate power.
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual: a dictator. In contemporary usage, dictatorship refers to an autocratic form of absolute rule by leadership unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state.
For some scholars, a dictatorship is a form of government that has the power to govern without consent of those being governed similar to authoritarianism , while totalitarianism describes a state that regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior of the people.
In other words, dictatorship concerns the source of the governing power and totalitarianism concerns the scope of the governing power. The wave of military dictatorships in Latin America in the second half of the twentieth century left a particular mark on Latin American culture.
In Latin American literature, the dictator novel challenging dictatorship is a significant genre. There are also many films depicting Latin American military dictatorships. Some nondemocratic governments can be classified into categories such as monarchies, oligarchies, theocracies and technocracies.
Governments tend to fall between traditionally democratic and non-democratic forms. These forms of government are usually distinguished based on who controls the state, how that authority is justified, and in what ways leaders and governments are structurally organized based on these justifications.
A monarchy is a form of government in which sovereignty is actually or nominally embodied in a single individual, the monarch. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and rules for life or until abdication. Monarchs may be autocrats absolute monarchy or ceremonial heads of state who exercise little or no power or only reserve power, with actual authority vested in a parliament or other body such as a constitutional assembly.
Monarchs have various titles — king or queen, prince or princess, Malik or Malikah, emperor or empress, duke or grand duke, and Shah. Monarchy is associated with political or sociocultural hereditary rule; most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family and trained for future duties. Colonialism is a form of government in which a nation extends its sovereignty over other territories.
In other words, it involves the expansion of a nation's rule beyond its borders. Colonialism often leads to ruling over indigenous populations and exploiting resources. The colonizer typically installs its economy, culture, religious order, and government form to strengthen its authority.
In the 15th century, European monarchies launched an age of nautical exploration that led to several notable colonial governments. British, French, Spanish, and Dutch colonists spread their influence and authority throughout the New World, dismantling and sometimes eradicating entire cultures and peoples in the process. One of the most familiar cases is the thirteen colonies, established after North America's colonization by Britain beginning in and later founded as the United States of America.
Totalitarianism is an authoritarian form of government in which the ruling party recognizes no limitations whatsoever on its power, including in its citizens' lives or rights. A single figure often holds power and maintains authority through widespread surveillance, control over mass media, intimidating demonstrations of paramilitary or police power, and suppression of protest, activism, or political opposition.
Kim Jong-un, the third "supreme leader" in the country's Kim dynasty, rules with singular and unchallenged authority, commanding his public without political opposition. Criticism of the supreme leader or protest against his policies are crimes punishable by death, as are countless other crimes for which due process does not occur.
A military dictatorship is a nation ruled by a single authority with absolute power and no democratic process. The head of state typically comes to power in a time of upheavals, such as high unemployment rates or civil unrest.
They usually lead the nation's armed forces, using it to establish their brand of law and order and suppress the people's rights. Dictators dismiss due process, civil liberties, or political freedoms. Dissent or political opposition can be dangerous or even deadly for the country's citizens. There are about 50 nations in the world with a dictator. One of them is Thailand, where General Prayut Chan-o-cha took power in following widespread protests against the government.
Chan-o-cha declared martial law, dissolved the nation's senate, and placed himself in control. Since then, Thailand has persisted under dictatorial military rule. The military junta, called the National Council for Peace and Order, imposes nationwide curfews, forbids political gatherings, threatens arrest for political opponents or activists, controls the media, and enforces widespread internet censorship.
Are you ready to discover your college program? Real-World Example The government that ruled South Africa from to was a racially constructed oligarchy. Real-World Example Aristocracy originated in ancient Greece; the term derives from the Greek word, aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best. Real-World Example Today, 45 nations have some form of monarchy, though the concept has become increasingly diluted with the evolution of democratic principles.
Real-Life Example Iran is perhaps the most important and powerful theocratic state in the world today. Real-World Example In the 15th century, European monarchies launched an age of nautical exploration that led to several notable colonial governments.
The type of dictatorship a country is ruled by typically comes down to the methods the dictator used to obtain power and how they go about maintaining it. Ezrow and Erica Frantz lay out five types of dictatorships:. Power is obtained and maintained through military might. The military takes control of the country usually through a direct coup , installs the dictator of its choosing typically the highest-ranking military officer , and uses force of arms to preserve its power.
Power is obtained and passed on through family connections. An autocracy, monarchy, and dictatorship. The leader may be supported by a party or military, but still retains the overwhelming majority of power, especially regarding whom to place in which governmental roles, and relies heavily upon their own charisma to maintain control.
Leaders of these dictatorships often place those loyal to them in positions of power qualified or not , and foster cults of personality to sway public opinion to their side. Like most dictators, they also often employ secret police and violence to silence critics.
Also called a dominant party dictatorship or one-party state. Multiple political parties may exist, but one dominates the government, makes all the rules, is free to disseminate propaganda, and controls every aspect of every election which may offer voters only a single candidate , thereby ensuring they win every time.
After authoritarian monarchies, these tend to be the longest-lasting dictatorships, as they can more easily install a new dictator if the existing one leaves office rare or dies. Hybrid dictatorships blend elements of the other four types. Dictatorships suffer from an obvious and significant imbalance of power. One person holds all of the country's power. Therefore, the entire country operates on the whims of that one person. A dictator may have a team of officials who advise him or her and help keep the government running, but these officials ultimately have very little control or influence.
On a similar note, a dictatorship's regular citizens have no voice in most matters. The dictator is the absolute ruler. From the outside looking in, life within a dictatorship appears akin to being in a toxic relationship or living situation. However, many people in long-running dictatorships such as North Korea and Cameroon have never experienced anything else, so living in a dictatorship is much less jarring and shocking to them. Dictatorships seem much more extreme and unethical to people who enjoy the privilege of an outside perspective.
As of , there are 52 nations with a dictator or authoritarian regime ruling the country: Three in Latin America and South America , 27 in Asia and the Middle East, and 22 in Africa. Africa has several long-standing dictators despite the fact that the continent as a whole is quite volatile politically. In the last six years alone, at least 26 African countries have experienced transfers of power.
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