Anarchism[edit]

See the main article on this topic: 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[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Anarcho-capitalism
A stateless society composed of sovereign individuals living within the constraints of a free market.

Anarchy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: 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[edit]
Aristocracy (from the Greek "rule of the best") is government rule by a few elite citizens. In Europe,
the elite consisted of the nobility and higher clergy, often drawn from noble families. Usually the
"elite" positions in question are hereditary. It was one of the six forms of government identified
by Aristotle, and he said it was the second best, after monarchybut before constitutional government.
[1]
 Moreover, if corrupted, it resulted in only the second worst form of government, oligarchy.
The United Kingdom's system of aristocracy is probably the canonical one for the English speaking
world. Until 1999, everyone who held a hereditary title of nobility higher than baron or baroness was
automatically a member of the upper house of the British legislature, the House of Lords. Since
1999, the members of this class elect 90 representatives who sit as the legislative body of the House
of Lords. The title of baron/baroness were also hereditary. In addition to these aristocrats, members
of landed families entitled to a heraldic coat of arms are generally considered part of the gentry,
without regard to their ranks or titles.[2] And people designated by the British monarch as Life Peers
also belong to the House of Lords, but these peers do not pass their titles to their progeny by
descent.[3]
Aristocracy has been abolished by many nations, sometimes with some violence. The French
Revolution is the most notorious instance of such an overthrow.
Even in places where noble titles carry no special political rights or consequences, a conventional
social distinction is drawn up between "old money" and a class of nouveaux richesor parvenus. Old-
money families inherited their wealth from relatively distant ancestors. It was formerly considered a
more prestigious sort of wealth. Besides the money, nobility involved many other markers of social
class: language or accent, dress, social connections and parental expectations. Many political
dynasties in the United States, including the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Tafts,
represented this kind of wealth. [4]
The Aristocracy refers to the social class that is doing the ruling.
Autocracy[edit]
A form of government in which the political power is held by a single, self-appointed ruler. This
should be distinguished from monarchy, which involves some traditional basis for that power, usually
birth, and is often weakened (especially in modern times) by the presence of countervailing
institutions, like a Parliament. Which is not to say that dictators who've awarded themselves the
position of king or emperor or president-for-life are exempt from being categorized as autocrats, of
course.
In practice, it is almost impossible to be a real autocrat, because every state must rely on an array of
lesser officials to enforce the dicta of the autocrat. Moreover, any given autocrat will have to
appease certain factions, most notably the military, to avoid the Praetorian treatment.  At a bare
minimum, the autocrat will need the threat of force to compel obedience, which necessitates some
willing underlings to carry out that threat.
Autocracy, though, is one of the most overused words in the foreign policy lexicon, as it is often used
to simply mean "authoritarian" or "totalitarian" governments. For example, many writers will refer to
Chinese "autocrats", not understanding that the mere fact that there is more than one person making
decisions means it is not an autocracy.
Some examples are:

 Stalinist USSR (well, Uncle Joe was certainly an autocratic leader, but totalitarian is probably

a better description of Stalinism in general)
 The Putinarchy in modern day Russia.
 North Korea under three generations now. Legally, the actual 'leader' of the country is Kim Il
Sung, despite being dead for 21 years.

Capracracy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Goat
A government ruled by goat or goats. Without a doubt, this is the most superior form of government
known to any creature ever.

Communism[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Communism
A hypothetical stateless entity that follows after socialism as according to Marxist theory.

Corporatocracy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Corporation
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. The U.S. is falling towards
this direction.

Demarchy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: 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[edit]
See the main article on this topic: 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 or
constitutional monarchy, which provides checks and balances and an establishment that is able to
tap an unruly mob on its collective head. In the US, "democracy" is often mistakenly assumed to
mean direct democracy as opposed to representative democracy (see also Republic).

Despotism[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Despotism
Rule by an all-powerful individual. A less polite term for "autocracy."

Dictatorship[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Dictatorship
Rule by a dictator instead of a despot. Political science is very nuanced. Technically, a dictatorship is
where the executive holds a disproportionate amount of power, so an oligarchy (see below) can be a
dictatorship, as in the case of South American juntas.

Epistemocracy[edit]
A utopian type of society and government in which people of rank, including those holding political
office, are those who possess epistemic humility.

Ethnocracy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Ethnocracy
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.

Exilarchy[edit]
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.

Fascism[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Fascism
Rule by a totalitarian and corporatist government.

Feudalism[edit]
See the main article on this topic: 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.

Futarchy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Futarchy
System of government proposed by economist Robin Hanson based on the idea of voting on a
certain outcome and then figuring out how to achieve it.

Geniocracy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Geniocracy
A system of government first proposed by Rael (leader of the International Raëlian Movement) in
1977, which advocates problem-solving and creative intelligence as criteria for regional governance.
Not, unfortunately, rule by genies, which would be much more awesome.

Gerontocracy[edit]
A state, society or group governed exclusively by geezers old farts elders. Gerontocracies form
councils, comprised of men[5] over the age of 60, who exercise control. This form of government was
popular with the ancient Greeks. It can be used more generally of any government whose members
are significantly older than the national average, which applies to many regimes (see Strom
Thurmond), but was particularly common in the latter days of Communism in Eastern Europe. [6]
[7]
 The rarely-found opposite is infantocracy or paedocracy. [8]

Kakistocracy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Kakistocracy
Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled people, "Government by the worst."

Kratocracy[edit]
Rule by those who are strong enough to seize power through force or cunning.

Kritocracy or Krytocracy[edit]
Rule by judges. See also judicial activism.

Matriarchy[edit]
Rule by women, or a government which regards female humans as entitled to rule and to exercise
power over men. MRAs believe this to be the case in most of the Western world.

Meritocracy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Meritocracy
A government wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are given based on
demonstrated talent and ability, usually encouraging "merit".
Minarchy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Minarchy
A political ideology which maintains that the state's only legitimate function is the protection of
individuals from aggression.

Mobocracy or ochlocracy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Mobocracy
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[edit]
See the main article on this topic: 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. On a more negative
note, in biblical scripture 1 Samuel 8:6-18[9] possibly implies the institution of hereditary monarchy as
a punishment for the governed.[10]

Necrocracy[edit]
A government that operates under the rules of a dead ruler. The Incan Empire in Peru was a weird
example of this, since the dead "rulers" didn't actually pass laws, but their mummified bodies had
attendants who "interpreted their will." (Sure...) See also North Korea.

Oligarchy[edit]
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. The term dates
back to Aristotle, who considered oligarchy to be the corrupted form of aristocracy, and worse
than mob rule, but better than tyranny. Historically, it was common in societies such as the
Renaissance Republic of Venice  and Republic of Florence  which restricted elected offices to
members of a small ruling class. No modern country identifies itself as an oligarchy. The term is
used by scholars to describe various societies, historical and modern, or thrown around as a
pejorative epithet.

Panarchracy[edit]
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[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Patriarchy
Rule by men, or a government which regards male humans as entitled to rule and to exercise power
over women.

Plutocracy[edit]
Rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth.

Republic[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Republic
Historical and international 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[edit]

See the main article on this topic: Socialism
A state run by a criminal organization communist party, with a centrally controlled economy and
resources distributed by "need" and produced by "ability", where workers, or the Party, control the
means of production. Prime examples: the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam. However, there are states which don't fit this bill coughPortugalandIndiacoughcough yet still self-
identify as Socialist republics.

Stratocracy[edit]
A system of government in which there is no distinction between the military and the civil power. the
ancient Greek city state of Sparta is an example. See stratocracy  in Wikipedia. No modern state is
a pure stratocracy, but North Korea and Myanmar have stratocratic tendencies, as their militaries
have constitutional authority usually reserved to civilian rulers.

Technocracy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Technocracy
A form of government in which engineers, scientists, and other technical experts are in control of
decision making in their respective fields. Plato might approve! Or maybe not, as today the term is
debased and generally means government by economists, bankers, and bureaucrats rather than
career politicians, as with the Monti government  in Italy.[11]

Thalassocracy[edit]
A realm which primarily exercises power over the sea via naval power, as opposed to a tellurocracy
which rules land.[12]

Theocracy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: 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 self-appointed 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 (usually written) law. Saudi Arabia and Iran are examples.

Theodemocracy[edit]
See the main article on this topic: 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[edit]
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[edit]
See the main article on this topic: Tyranny
Rule by a selfish or otherwise bad single ruler. Prime example: North Korea.