Tesr1 YT POLITICAL SYSTEMS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY jonarchy is form of government in which authority is eld bya single person, a 7 sone dent ra zone here and ifelng the of he enc Century, monarchs ruled over most ofthe world, but by the mile ofthe century oly a ‘handful remained, A series of revolutions in the preceding centuries had weakened the European monarchies, and while monarchs remained symbols of national unity rel power ‘had passed to constitutional assemblies. Monarchy survived as a form in Europe only where the King or queen functioned as the symbolic head ofa parliamentary state, a i Britain, the Low Counties, and Seandinavia 1 lasted longer inthe few smal states of Asia and Africa that had never come under ditect colonial rule, By the 1960s, autocratie monarchy hod become an outdated form of government. Throughout most of the world people were considered citizens, not subjects, andthe totality ofthe people were seen as constituting te sae 2 Inmost states where monarchical authority was removed, some form of liberal democracy took its place. liberal democracy is a sate where political authority rests in the people ating through elected representatives and where an elected exceutive is responsible tothe will ofthe people as a whole. The term applies o abroad group of states with a pariamentary or representative politcal tradition. Liberal democracies diffe from the communist states known as people's democracies, in which the Communist party holds the ultimate authority. Generally, Hiberal democracies follow the pariamentary alia, with the executive power vested ina cabinet responsible to the pariament and drawn from the !gjority party or combination of parties. Inthe United Stats, an independently elected executive, the president, functions separately from the levisltive authority, the congress, 3 The doctrine that all ofthe people had effective authority, or sovereignty, Became the basis forthe functioning of democratic stats. This doctrine of popular sovereignty became all-inclusive as citizenship rights were extended to clases formerly excluded and to women The liberal democratic stat claimed the right to control every aspect of human life according tothe will of the peopl, except where limits on state control were directly stated ina bill of rights ina democratic constitution and recognized in practice 4 Alldemocratic states, both parliamentary and presidential, changed in form during the twentieth century. To meet the need ofan wan industrial society, states generally enlarged their scope of aetvity to control economic power and to provide common services to the people. The expansion of state activity and extension of state services involved a new view of legislation and its role in society. The passing of laws came to be seen as a way to promote the well being of the people. With this new concept of legislation, the number of new laws increased immensely, particularly inthe areas of social welfare, education, health and safety, and economic development. 5 The trend toward liberal democracy continued throughout the century, but a various times there was also atendeney toward a revival of authoritarian rule Ina number of states detnoeratc governments could not cope with the crises ofthe time, In hess cases, some form of totalitarian dictatorship emerged, replacing popular sovereignty with the total power some instances, monarchy gave way dieelly o dictatorship. In others, dictatorial regimes took over democratically organized states, notably in Eastem Europe in the years between the two world war, in new states of Asia and Affia in the 19800 od sporadically in Central and South Ametica 6 —_Autoiarian governments showed thee principle characterises, Firs there was a hhead of state or leader with exceptional powers, with a party to support him, Second! the legislative body was elected by a system that prohibited third there was a bureaueratic administration that was in no wey obec ee i administration that was in no way subject to popular contol ‘The most extreme position on these point ic i Petreptarerias se points was taken by Hitler's totalitarian National Socialist TION TOEFL® Test ——