DR.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW

UNIVERSITY
2016-2017

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW –II

FINAL DRAFT

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GOVERNMENTS

SUBMITTED BY: UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

VAIBHAV VERMA MS. ANKITA YADAV

ROLL NO: 181 ASST. PROFF.(LAW)

SECTION ‘B’ Dr.RMLNLU.

B.A. LLB (Hons.), SEMESTER IV

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take great pleasure in thanking my CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-II professor, MS. ANKITA
YADAV for her infallible support all through the course of this project. This endeavor would not
have been in its present shape had she not been there whenever I needed her. She has been a
constant source of support all the while.

Also I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the library staff for always helping me out with
finding excellent books and material almost every time I needed. They too have been a constant
support system in the completion of this project.

Last but surely not the least- I would like to thank my friends for their timely critical analysis of
my work and special feedback that worked towards the betterment of this work.

-VAIBHAV VERMA

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

1)INTRODUCTION
2) DIFFERENT TYPES OF GOVERNMENT
3)DEMOCRACY
4)CHARACTERISTICS OF DEMOCRACY
5)AUTOCRACY
6)TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP
7)CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY
8)MONARCHY
9)THEOCRACY
10)OLIGARCHY
11)CONCLUSION
12)BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 INTRODUCTION

A government is the system by which a state or community is controlled. In

the Commonwealth of Nations, the word government is also used more narrowly to refer to
the collective group of people that exercises executive authority in a state. This usage is
analogous to what is called an "administration" in American English. Furthermore, especially in
American English, the concepts of the state and the government may be used synonymously to
refer to the person or group of people exercising authority over a politically organized
territory. Finally, government is also sometimes used in English as a synonym for governance.

In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists

of legislators, administrators, and arbitrators. Government is the means by which state policy is
enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state. A form of
government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political systems and institutions
that make up the organisation of a specific government.

Government of any kind currently affects every human activity in many important ways. For this
reason, political scientists generally argue that government should not be studied by itself; but
should be studied along
with anthropology, economics, environmentalism, history, philosophy, science, and sociology.

• Government is a system of social control under which the right to make laws, and the right to
enforce them, is given to a particular group in society.1

• Government power can be held by one individual, a select few, or a majority. • Modern
government have many jobs, such as:

• Providing national security

• Keeping order

• Establishing a justice system

1
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/forms-government/

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• Welfare services for those in need

• Regulating the economy

• Educational systems

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GOVERNMENT

1)DEMOCRACY: Democracy, in modern usage, is a system of government in which the

citizens exercise power directly or elect representatives from among themselves to form a
governing body, such as a parliament. Democracy is sometimes referred to as "rule of the
majority". Democracy was originally conceived in Classical Greece, where political
representatives were chosen by a jury from amongst the male citizens: rich and poor. The
English word dates to the 16th century, from the older Middle French and Middle
Latin equivalents.

According to political scientist Larry Diamond, democracy consists of four key elements:

(a) A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections;
(b) The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life;

(c) Protection of the human rights of all citizens, and

(d) A rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.

In the 5th century BC, to denote the political systems then existing in Greek city-states,
notably Athens, the term is an antonym to aristocracy, meaning "rule of an elite". While
theoretically these definitions are in opposition, in practice the distinction has been blurred
historically.[4] The political system of Classical Athens, for example, granted democratic
citizenship to free men and excluded slaves and women from political participation. In 1906,
Finland became the first government to harald a more inclusive democracy at the national level.

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2
In virtually all democratic governments throughout ancient and modern history, democratic
citizenship consisted of an elite class until full enfranchisement was won for all adult citizens in
most modern democracies through the suffrage movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Democracy contrasts with forms of government where power is either held by an individual, as
in an absolute monarchy, or where power is held by a small number of individuals, as in
an oligarchy. Nevertheless, these oppositions, inherited from Greek philosophy, are now
ambiguous because contemporary governments have mixed democratic, oligarchic, and
monarchic elements. Karl Popper defined democracy in contrast to dictatorship or tyranny, thus
focusing on opportunities for the people to control their leaders and to oust them without the
need for a revolution.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DEMOCRACY
No consensus exists on how to define democracy, but legal equality, political freedom and rule
of law have been identified as important characteristics. These principles are reflected in all
eligible citizens being equal before the law and having equal access to legislative processes. For
example, in a representative democracy, every vote has equal weight, no unreasonable
restrictions can apply to anyone seeking to become a representative, and the freedom of its
eligible citizens is secured by legitimised rights and liberties which are typically protected by
a constitution. Other uses of "democracy" include that of direct democracy.

One theory holds that democracy requires three fundamental principles: (1) upward control, i.e.
sovereignty residing at the lowest levels of authority, (2) political equality, and (3) social norms
by which individuals and institutions only consider acceptable acts that reflect the first two
principles of upward control and political equality.

The term "democracy" is sometimes used as shorthand for liberal democracy, which is a variant
of representative democracy that may include elements such as political pluralism; equality
before the law; the right to petition elected officials for redress of grievances; due process; civil
liberties; human rights; and elements of civil society outside the government. Roger

2
http://www.charleston.k12.il.us/cms/Teachers/TeamRed/SS/TypesGovernmentEconomicSystems.PDF

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Scruton argues that democracy alone cannot provide personal and political freedom unless the
institutions of civil society are also present.

In some countries, notably in the United Kingdom which originated the Westminster system, the

dominant principle is that of parliamentary sovereignty, while maintaining judicial
independence. In the United States, separation of powers is often cited as a central attribute.
In India, parliamentary sovereignty is subject to the Constitution of India which includes judicial
review. Though the term "democracy" is typically used in the context of a political state, the
principles also are applicable to private organisations.

Majority rule is often listed as a characteristic of democracy. Hence, democracy allows

for political minorities to be oppressed by the "tyranny of the majority" in the absence of legal
protections of individual or group rights. An essential part of an "ideal" representative
democracy is competitive elections that are substantively and procedurally "fair,"
i.e., just and equitable. In some countries, freedom of political expression, freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, and internet democracy are considered important to ensure that
voters are well informed, enabling them to vote according to their own interests.

It has also been suggested that a basic feature of democracy is the capacity of all voters to
participate freely and fully in the life of their society. With its emphasis on notions of social
contract and the collective will of all the voters, democracy can also be characterised as a form of
political collectivism because it is defined as a form of government in which all eligible citizens
have an equal say in lawmaking.

While representative democracy is sometimes equated with the republican form of government,
the term "republic" classically has encompassed both democracies and aristocracies. Many
democracies are constitutional monarchies, such as the United Kingdom.3

3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

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2)AUTOCRACY
Autocracy is “rule by one.” In an autocratic government, one person -- the autocrat -- has all the
power and makes all the decisions. There are no laws or constitution that restrain the authority of
the autocrat. The people who are governed have no processes, such as elections, through which
they can express their desires for how their government operates. The advantages of an
autocratic government are that decisions can be made and implemented quickly. However,
individual rights are usually ignored and power is often maintained by force. Some autocracies
are theocratic governments, in which the ruler claims to have been put in power by a deity.

TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP: Totalitarianism is a political system in which

the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and
private life wherever feasible.[1] A distinctive feature of totalitarian governments is an "elaborate
ideology, a set of ideas that gives meaning and direction to the whole society".

The concept of totalitarianism was first developed in the 1920s by the Weimar German jurist,
and later Nazi academic, Carl Schmitt, and Italian fascists. Schmitt used the term, Totalstaat, in
his influential work on the legal basis of an all-powerful state, The Concept of the
Political (1927). The concept became prominent in Western political discourse as a concept that
highlights similarities between Fascist states and the Soviet Union.

CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY: A form of government in which

the sovereign exercises their authorities in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution.
Constitutional monarchy differs from absolute monarchy (in which a monarch holds absolute
power), in that constitutional monarchs are bound to exercise their powers and authorities within
the limits prescribed within an established legal framework. Constitutional monarchies range
from countries such as Morocco, where the constitution grants substantial discretionary powers
to the sovereign, to countries such as Sweden or Denmark where the monarch retains very few
formal authorities.

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A constitutional monarchy may refer to a system in which the monarch acts as a non-party
political head of state under the constitution, whether written or unwritten. While most monarchs
may hold formal authority and the government may legally operate in the monarch's name, in the
form typical in Europe the monarch no longer personally sets public policy or chooses political
leaders. Political scientist Vernon Bogdanor, paraphrasing Thomas Macaulay, has defined a
constitutional monarch as "a sovereign who reigns but does not rule".

In addition to acting as a visible symbol of national unity, a constitutional monarch may hold
formal powers such as dissolving parliament or giving royal assent to legislation. However, the
exercise of such powers is largely strictly in accordance with either written constitutional
principles or unwritten constitutional conventions, rather than any personal political preference
imposed by the sovereign. In The English Constitution, British political theorist Walter
Bagehot identified three main political rights which a constitutional monarch may freely
exercise: the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn. Many
constitutional monarchies still retain significant authorities or political influence however, such
as through certain reserve powers, and may also play an important political role.

The United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms are all constitutional monarchies in

the Westminster tradition of constitutional governance. Three states – Malaysia, Cambodia and
the Holy See – are elective monarchies, wherein the ruler is periodically selected by a
small electoral college.

MONARCHY: A monarchy is a form of government in which a group, usually a family

called the dynasty, embodies the country's national identity and one of its members, called
the monarch, exercises a role of sovereignty. The actual power of the monarch may vary from
purely symbolic (crowned republic), to partial and restricted (constitutional monarchy), to
completely autocratic (absolute monarchy). Traditionally and in most cases, the monarch's post
is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, but there are also elective monarchies where the
monarch is elected. Each of these has variations: in some elected monarchies only those of
certain pedigrees are, whereas many hereditary monarchies impose requirements regarding the

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religion, age, gender, mental capacity, etc. Occasionally this might create a situation of rival
claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where
the term of a monarch's reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved:
an invasion being repulsed, for instance. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions
defining monarchy.

Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer
prevalent. Where it exists, it is now usually a constitutional monarchy, in which the monarch
retains a unique legal and ceremonial role, but exercises limited or no official political power:
under the written or unwritten constitution, others have governing authority. Currently, 47
sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state, 19 of which
are Commonwealth realms that recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state.
All European monarchies are constitutional ones, with the exception of the Vatican City which is
an elective monarchy, but sovereigns in the smaller states exercise greater political influence
than in the larger. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia "reign, but do not rule"
although there is considerable variation in the degree of authority they wield. Although they
reign under constitutions, the monarchs of Brunei, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and Swaziland appear to continue to exercise more political influence than any other
single source of authority in their nations, either by constitutional mandate or by tradition.4

3)THEOCRACY: Theocracy is a form of government in which a deity is the source from

which all authority derives. The Oxford English Dictionary has this definition:

1. a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god.

1.1. the commonwealth of Israel from the time of Moses until the election of Saul as King. 

An ecclesiocracy is a situation where the religious leaders assume a leading role in the state, but
do not claim that they are instruments of divine revelation. For example, the prince-bishops of
the European Middle Ages, where the bishop was also the temporal ruler. Such a state may use
the administrative hierarchy of the religion for its own administration, or it may have two
4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy

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'arms'—administrators and clergy—but with the state administrative hierarchy subordinate to the
religious hierarchy.

The papacy in the Papal States occupied a middle ground between theocracy and ecclesiocracy,
since the pope did not claim he was a prophet who received revelation from God and translated it
into civil law.

Religiously endorsed monarchies fall between theocracy and ecclesiocracy, according to the

relative strengths of the religious and political organs.

Most forms of theocracy are oligarchic in nature, involving rule of the many by the few, some of
whom so anointed under claim of divine commission.5

4)OLIGARCHY: is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of

people. These people might be distinguished by nobility, wealth, family ties, education or
corporate, religious or military control. Such states are often controlled by a few prominent
families who typically pass their influence from one generation to the next, but inheritance is not
a necessary condition for the application of this term.

Throughout history, oligarchies have often been tyrannical, relying on public obedience or

oppression to exist. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich,
[4]
 for which another term commonly used today is plutocracy.

Especially during the fourth century BC, after the restoration of democracy from oligarchical
coups, the Athenians used the drawing of lots for selecting government officers in order to
counteract what the Athenians saw as a tendency toward oligarchy in government if a
professional governing class were allowed to use their skills for their own benefit. They drew
lots from large groups of adult volunteers that pick selection technique for civil servants
performing judicial, executive, and administrative functions. They even used lots for posts, such
as judges and jurors in the political courts, which had the power to overrule the Assembly. 6

FUNCTIONS OF  GOVERNMENT

5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theocracy
6
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy

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MAINTENANCE OF AUTHORITY

One of the principal functions of government is to remain in power. Governments do not

relinquish their authority unless compelled to do so. Many of the actions of politicians and civil
servants can be explained by the need to maintain and enhance their power.

Every government strives to increase its legitimacy in the eyes of the people. It may identify
itself with ancient traditions, with hope for the future, or with fear of a common enemy. Some
governments employ repression, never relaxing their vigils against real or imagined opponents.
Even democracies, when threatened, are likely to engage in a search for subversives and
"enemies of the people."

When a regime draws its main support from a privileged class or group that decreases in
numbers and strength, when a government becomes ineffective in handling domestic affairs or
countering external threats, or when a society's consensus on the principles and goals
of government evaporates, a government tends to lose authority. The French monarchy in the
18th century and the Russian monarchy in the 20th century were based on aristocracies that had
lost much of their legitimacy in the eyes of the people. Eventually these regimes were unable to
enforce their laws, and revolutions swept them from power.

Governments tend, therefore, to foster widespread ideological commitment to the nation through
patriotic ceremonies, propaganda, and civic education; they employ armed forces and
intelligence-gathering organizations for national defense; they maintain police and prison
systems to ensure domestic order; and they undertake the administration of supervisory and
regulatory functions to carry out national goals by establishing various bureaucracies to handle
each complex function.

ADMINISTRATION

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All governments recognize the principle that the public must be protected and served. The
citizen, in effect, surrenders a degree of individual sovereignty to the government in return for
protection of life and property and the delivery of essential services. Governments supervise the
resolution of conflicting interests, the workings of the political process, the enforcement of laws
and rights, and the monitoring of national income (see income, national) and international trade;
they regulate economic and social relationships among individuals and private organizations; and
they carry out enterprises such as production of military goods, provision of postal services, and
ownership of power utilities and public works. Among the most basic services provided
by government are the printing and coining of money, the provision of roads, sewers, water,
education, and social and welfare services.

With the growth of the welfare state, governments began to provide services such as social
security and health insurance. But the scope of government regulation is now much broader. In
the United States the government sets minimum wages, limits the rates charged by public
utilities, buys farm commodities to keep prices up, forbids the sale of harmful foods and drugs,
sets standards for gasoline consumption by automobiles, requires manufacturers to install
antipollution devices, and monitors the safety of factories. Federal, state, and local governments
in the United States also engage directly in economic activity. They impose taxes, produce and
consume goods, sell electric power, lend money to farmers, and insure bank deposits.

In other countries governments intrude even further into the workings of the economy. In
Western Europe governments own and operate telephone, radio, and television services,
railroads, coal mines, and aircraft companies. In some countries, such as Sweden and Great
Britain, the entire health system is also run by the state. In countries with Communist
governments, such as the former USSR, North Korea, China, and Cuba, the state has attempted
to control the entire economic life of the nation. All economic planning is centralized in
the government and its bureaucracies. When the system fails to produce the goods and services
expected by the people, the government is forced to increase the level of repression of its citizens
in order to remain in power.

INTERNAL CONFLICTS
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The end of the cold war and the loss of control by the superpowers over international events have
led to a different type of stress on many governments. The threats to their sovereignty are no
longer external. Many nations, especially those artificially carved out of old empires that expired
during both World Wars, are finding that the arbitrary power that maintained the central
governments is no longer sufficient for the task. The communication revolution, through radio
and the satellite transmission of television, has truly created a "global village." Citizens no longer
live in isolation. They demand the rights and privileges enjoyed by others.

Another kind of demand governments must try to meet comes from ethnic and religious groups
that in some cases seek autonomy from the government. Some of these conflicts result in
attempts at genocide, and the rest of the world appears powerless to intervene. These problems
are not limited to Third World countries. NATO has revised its original purpose of preventing an
invasion of western Europe to a strategy of maintaining smaller mobile forces to prevent the
internal breakup of nations. But these internal conflicts continue to have the potential to produce
anarchy and chaos, threatening entire regions.7

CONCLUSION

7
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/forms-government/

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 Government is not reason, it is not eloquence – it is a force! Like fire, it is a dangerous
servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

This process describes what has happened to governments all over the world, and which has
especially accelerated since the 2008 financial crisis, as the ruling class of the military/industrial
complex have formed a cabal with bankers and politicians to manage the global economy for
their own benefit with no regard whatsoever for the remaining 95% of the people.

Our illusion of democracy, the rule of the people by the people, has been shattered… encouraged
by the rapid spread of information throughout the Internet and instant communication systems.
Developments in technology have brought many advantages and benefits to the masses but at the
same time have exposed the dark secrets of government as never before. One of the major secrets
to be revealed is how governments are financed and how they interact with other connected
parties in their management of taxpayers’ money. Shop Squawk will follow the pattern set in
previous lessons by briefly examining the history of our government system. Many will already
know that our democratic system was derived from the Greeks, particularly the Athenians, who
developed techniques to prevent the rise of *oligarchy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 1) WIKIPEDIA.ORG
2) SCHOLASTIC.COM
3) FREEMANUALSINDEX.COM
4) https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-
content/forms-government/
5) STUDY.COM/ACADEMY/

6)RATIONALWIKI.ORG

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