Anarchism

A form of government (or lack thereof) with

no ruling hierarchy, instead decisions are
made at a directly democratic level: laws
are created by citizens alone, although they
may be enforced by institutions that are not
publicly controlled.
Anarcho-capitalism
A stateless society composed of sovereign
individuals living within the constraints of a
corporatist market
Anarchy
Anarchy is lack of a central government, as
there is no one recognized governing
authority; in anarchy there is no effective
government (as opposed to an "ineffective
government") and each (rugged) individual
has absolute liberty. It is important to note,
however, that the lack of a government to
enforce laws does not automatically imply
that there are no laws; anarcho-capitalism in
particular posits a form of anarchy with a
body of explicit laws.
Aristocracy
A form of government in which a select few
rule based on inherited hereditary right.
Autocracy
A form of government in which the political
power is held by a single, self-appointed
ruler.

A hypothetical stateless entity that follows

after socialism as according to Marxist
theory.
Corporatocracy
A form of government where a corporation,
a group of corporations, or government
entities with private components control the
direction and governance of a country. (See
USA.)
Demarchy
A hypothetical political system run by
randomly selected deciders decision
makers who have been selected by sortition
(drawing lots). Think selecting a legislature
or executive in the same manner that a jury
is presently selected.
Democracy
Refers to a broad range of types of
government based upon the "consent of the
governed." In its purest form it is the same
thing as mobocracy, but it is usually
practiced in the form of a republic, which
provides checks and balances and an
establishment that is able to tap an unruly
mob on its collective head.
Despotism
Rule by an all-powerful individual. A less
polite term for "autocracy."

Dictatorship

Capracracy

Rule by a dictator instead of a despot.

Political science is very nuanced.

Rule by goats.

Epistemocracy

Communist state

A utopian type of society and government in

which people of rank, including those

holding political office, are those who

possess epistemic humility, whatever that is.

of voting on a certain outcome and then

figuring out how to achieve it.

Ethnocracy

Geniocracy

A form of government where

representatives of a particular ethnic group
hold a number of government posts
disproportionately large to the percentage of
the total population that the particular ethnic
group(s) represents and use them to
advance the position of their particular
ethnic group(s) to the detriment of others. In
Nazi Germany ethnic groups Hitler
supported held all the power. Neo-Nazis
often accuse Jews of possessing an
ethnocracy in the person of the U.S.
government, which they call the Zionist
Occupation Government.

A system of government first proposed by

Rael (leader of the International Ralian
Movement) in 1977, which advocates
problem-solving and creative intelligence as
criteria for regional governance.

Exilarchy

Kakistocracy

A form of government, usually theocratic or

monarchic, that is established and
constituted for rule over an ethnic or
religious diaspora rather than over the place
of origin whence the diaspora originated.

Government by the least qualified or most

unprincipled citizens, "Government by the
worst."

Fascism

A term applied to a government that extends

the personal wealth and political power of
government officials and the ruling class
(collectively, kleptocrats) at the expense of
the population.

Rule by a totalitarian and corporatist

government. It has also gone by the names
Nazism, Baathism, Corporatism, and
Falangism.
Feudalism
Government by a usually hereditary class of
military landowners, who exact goods and
services from a peasant class in exchange
for protection. Usually features complex
webs of loyalties and ranks.

Holacracy
a specific social technology or system of
organisational governance developed by
HolacracyOne, LLC in which authority and
decision making are distributed throughout
a holarchy of self organising teams rather
than being vested in a management
hierarchy. (from Wikipedia)

Kleptocracy

Kratocracy
Rule by those who are strong enough to
seize power through force or cunning.
Kritocracy or Krytocracy
Rule by judges. See also judicial activism.

Futarchy

Matriarchy

System of government proposed by

economist Robin Hanson based on the idea

Rule by women, or a government which

regards female humans as entitled to rule
and to exercise power over men.

Meritocracy
A government wherein appointments are
made and responsibilities are given based
on demonstrated talent and ability, usually
incentivising "merit".
Minarchy
A political ideology which maintains that the
state's only legitimate function is the
protection of individuals from aggression.
Mobocracy or Ochlocracy
Rule by mob or a mass of people, or the
intimidation of constitutional authorities;
think Monty Python and the Quest for the
Holy Grail "witch/duck" mob.
Monarchy
Rule by an individual for life or until
abdication, often hereditary. On a positive
note, a monarchy usually possesses more
checks and balances than an autocracy or
dictatorship.
Oligarchy
A form of government in which power
effectively rests with a small elite segment
of society distinguished by royal, wealth,
intellectual, family, military or religious
hegemony.
Panarchracy
A political philosophy emphasizing each
individual's right to freely join and leave the
jurisdiction of any governments they
choose, without being forced to move from
their current locale.
Patriarchy

Rule by men, or a government which

regards male humans as entitled to rule and
to exercise power over women.
Plutocracy
Rule by the wealthy, or power provided by
wealth.
Republic
Historical definition: Any of a wide variety of
non-monarchical governments where
eligibility to rule is determined by law. US
definition: Rule by elected individuals
representing the citizen body and exercising
power according to the rule of law.
Socialist republic or people's republic
A state run by a communist party, or worker
representative democracy, with a centrally
controlled economy and resources
distributed by need and produced by ability,
where workers, or the Party, control the
means of production.
Stratocracy
A system of government in which there is no
distinction between the military and the civil
power.
Technocracy
A form of government in which engineers,
scientists, and other technical experts are in
control of decision making in their
respective fields.
Theocracy
A form of government in which a god or
deity is recognized as the state's supreme
civil ruler. Since said god or deity is usually
absent from decision making, a selfappointed or elected leader or leaders of the
religion of said god or deity will rule instead

through personal interpretation of the laws

commanded by the god in that religion's
written law.
Theodemocracy
A political system theorized by Joseph
Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint
movement (Mormons). As the name implies,
theodemocracy was meant to be a fusion of
traditional republican democratic rights
under the US Constitution combined with
theocratic elements.
Timocracy
Either a state where only property owners
may participate in government or where
rulers are selected and perpetuated based
on the degree of honor they hold relative to
others in their society, peer group or class.
Tyranny
Rule by a selfish or otherwise bad single
ruler

Federalism refers to the mixed or compound

mode of government, combining a general
government (the central or 'federal'
government) with regional governments
(provincial, state, Land, cantonal, territorial
or other sub-unit governments) in a single
political system
Capitalism
A social-economic system in which owners
of capital (machines, tools, factories, etc.)
arrange for workers to use that capital, in
exchange for payment. The capital owners
are entitled to the products of the workers'
labor, and may sell them, use them, or
otherwise do with them as they see fit.
Communism
A social-economic system in which all
capital is commonly owned (either by the
people directly or through the commune),
and production is undertaken for use, rather
than for profit. Communist society is thus
stateless, classless, moneyless, and
democratic.

Authoritarian

Feudalism

Rule by authoritarian governments is

identified in societies where a specific set of
people possess the authority of the state in
a republic or union. It is a political
system controlled by unelected rulers who
usually permit some degree of individual
freedom.

A social-economic system of land ownership

and duties. Under feudalism, all the land in
a kingdom was the king's. However, the
king would give some of the land to the
lords or nobles who fought for him. These
presents of land were called manors. Then
the nobles gave some of their land to
vassals. The vassals then had to do duties
for the nobles. The lands of vassals were
called fiefs.

Totalitarian
Rule by a totalitarian government is
characterised by a highly centralised and
coercive authority that regulates nearly
every aspect of public and private life.
Federalism

Socialism

A social-economic system in which workers

democratically through cooperatives own all
industry; public services may be commonly,
collectively or state owned, such as
healthcare and education.

Demarchy, in theory, could overcome some

of the functional problems of conventional
representative democracy

Statism

Variant of democracy; government in which

the people represent themselves and vote
directly for new laws and public policy.

An social-economic system that

concentrates power in the state at the
expense of individual freedom. Among other
variants, the term subsumes theocracy,
absolute monarchy, Nazism, fascism,
communism, democratic socialism, and
plain, unadorned dictatorship. Such variants
differ on matters of form, tactics, and/or
ideology

Direct democracy

Electocracy
An electocracy is a political system where
citizens are able to vote for their
government but cannot participate directly in
governmental decision making and where
the government does not share any power.

Demarchy
Variant of democracy; government in which
the state is governed by randomly selected
decision makers who have been selected by
sortition (lot) from a broadly inclusive pool of
eligible citizens. These groups, sometimes
termed "policy juries", "citizens' juries", or
"consensus conferences", deliberately make
decisions about public policies in much the
same way that juries decide criminal cases.

Parliamentary system
A parliamentary system is a system of
democratic governance of a state where the
executive branch derives its democratic
legitimacy from the legislature (parliament)
and is also held accountable to that
legislature.