GOVERNMENT AND

ITS THREE (3) PRINCIPAL

FORMS

Najib Rasul M. Jalaide

Thomas Hobbes argued in his
book Leviathan that, without
government, life would be
“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish,
and short.”

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“ What is a government?
A .government is an institution or a
system made of a group of people that
takes care or manages a country or a
state.

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 3 Principal Forms of Government

1. As to the number of persons exercising sovereign powers

2. As to the extent of powers exercised by the central or national government
3. As to the relationship between the executive and the legislative branch of
the government

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 As to the number of persons exercising sovereign powers

1. Monarchy
- one in which the supreme and final authority is in the hands of a single
person without regard to the source of his election or the nature or duration
of his tenure. It can be absolute monarchy or constitutional monarchy.
2. Aristocracy
-one in which the political power is exercised by a few privileged class.
3. Democracy
- one in which political power is exercised in majority of the people. This
can be categorized under direct democracy or indirect democracy.

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 As to the extent of powers exercised by the central or
national government.
1. Unitary Government
- one in which the control of the national and local affairs
is exercised by the central or national governments.

2. Federal Government
-one in which the government is divided between two
sets of organs, one for national affairs and the other is for the
local affair.

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 As to the relationship between the executive and the
legislative branches of government

1. Presidential Government
- the president is separate from the legislative body

2. Federal government
- the chief executive, such as a prime minister, is part of
the legislative body, or parliament.

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 ON THE BASIS OF THE
ABOVE CLASSIFICATION OF
GOVERNMENT, IT CAN BE SAID
THAT THE PHILIPPINES IS A
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY, A
UNITARY AND PRESIDENTIAL
GOVERNMENT.