This document discusses different forms of government and how power is distributed in each. It describes unitary governments as having all power centralized in the central government, with local governments as administrative units of the central government. Federal governments split power between the central and local governments, with a constitution defining each level's duties. Confederations involve voluntary membership and require unanimity for constitutional changes. The document also discusses autocracy (rule by one), oligarchy (rule by a few wealthy elites), and democracy (rule by the people or their representatives).

1. Governments
Who is in Charge?
Where is the Power?
• Oligarchy
• Unitary Government
• Autocracy
• Federal Government
• Democracy
• Confederation
Government

2. Unitary Government Power
• In a unitary government, the Central government has
most of the authority and decision-making power
• Local government offices are part of the Central
government
• Central Government maintains all power over the Local
Governments
• Unitary governments may not be less democratic (when
ordinary citizens get to vote) than other forms- it depends on
who is in charge!

3. Unitary Government
Central
Government
Has all the power
Local
Government
Same as Central
Local
Government
Same as Central
The Local
Governments
are not separate,
but are smaller parts
of the Central
government
Local
Government
Same as Central

4. Unitary Governments of the World

5. Federal Government Power
• In a Federal Government- power is split
between a central government authority and
the local governments (like the United States)
• an overriding “law of the land,” known as a
constitution, allocates (gives out) duties,
rights, and privileges to each level of
government
• The constitution usually defines how power is
shared between national, state, and local
governments

6. Federal Government- power of the Central
government is separate from State
Government
Central
Government
The Federal
Constitution
Laws Rule
Both Central
and State
State
Governments

7. Federal Governments all over the
WORLD!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Government of Australia
Government of Belgium
Government of Brazil
Government of Canada
Government of Germany
Government of India
Government of Malaysia
Government of Mexico
Government of Russia
Government of Switzerland
Government of the United States

8. Confederation Government Power
• A confederation is a group of empowered states or
communities, usually created by treaty but often later
creating a common constitution (rule of laws)
• Confederations usually deal with issues such as defense,
foreign affairs, foreign trade, and a common currency,
with the central government being required to provide
support for all members
Difference between Federation and Confederation:
1. Membership in a Confederation is VOLUNTARY,
while
membership in a Federation is NOT
2. A Confederation has no real direct powers
3. Any changes to the constitution (usually a treaty), require
unanimity (everyone must agree by vote)

9. How citizens participate
• Autocracy- rule of one
• Oligarchy- rule of a few
• Democracy- rule of majority
• Autocracy can be a dictatorship - rule by one person– like
Cuba
• Oligarchy is government by a small group –like Myanmar,
Fiji – and some say Russia is becoming an oligarchy again
• Democracy is rule by the people or their, freely and
informed, elected representatives -- like USA, Mexico

10. Autocracy
Rule of One
All Government decisions
are made by one person
Citizens have little or no real choice about
Government Decisions

11. Autocracies of the World
An autocratic government is when only the government can make the decisions.
So, the people who live in a country with an autocratic government have no say in
creating their country’s laws

12. Oligarchy
• Rule of the few:
• Generally the people who are richer and more
powerful than the others, what you might call the
aristocrats or the nobles
• Sometimes they may be elected, and sometimes they
are born into their position, and at other times you
might have to have a certain amount of money or
land in order to have any power in government
• Oligarchies are generally bad for the poor, but they
are pretty good for rich people from powerful families

13. Oligarchy
Ordinary citizens usually don’t have a vote or a
voice in their government
Ruled by a few

14. Democracy
• Democracy means the rule of the people (in Greek). That
is where each individual person has a vote about what to
do. Whatever the most people vote for wins. There is no
king or dictator, and anybody can propose a new law
• One problem for a democracy is that it is very
inconvenient for people to always be going to vote for
laws. People have jobs! So, most democracies usually
elect a few people who will do most of the everyday
voting, and the rest of the votes only come when there is
a really important law to pass. It is hard to decide how to
choose these few people to be representatives! This is
called Representative Democracy

15. These are the countries in the world today
that “claim” to be a democracy-meaning the
citizens rule themselves
Do you think ALL of these countries are a TRUE Democracy?

16. This is a “Polity Data Series Map”
It tries to measure a country’s true democracy in government
It gives scores of -10 to +10. The countries in the lightest pink
have the highest democracy score, the darker the color, the lower the
democracy score
Just because a country let’s ordinary people vote,
doesn’t mean that the citizens’ votes REALLY COUNT!

17. Democracy
Ruled by
majority –orby the people
What is this
person doing?
In a true democracy,
all citizens gets to
vote, and every vote
counts!

18. Types of Democracy
Presidential Democracy
Parliamentary Democracy
• is when the executive (usually
called the president) is
separate from the legislature
(the part of government that
passes laws).
• The president is not
accountable to the
legislature, and the legislature
does not have power over the
president. The branches of
government are separate
from each other
• is when the executive,
(sometimes called the Prime
Minister) is dependent on the
support of the legislature (often
termed the parliament), by
giving a “vote of confidence.”
• The branches of government
are not clearly separate from
each other

19. Presidential Democracy
Separate
Powers
US President
John Kennedy
US Congress
Parliamentary Democracy
Prime Minister Great
Britain- Gordon Brown
Executive
must have a
Vote of
Confidence
From
Parliament
Great Britain Parliament

20. Parliamentary Democracies around
the World
Places in green have a head of state and head of government, like a presidential
democracy, but the office is filled by parliament's choice and not elected
separately.

21. Presidential Democracies of the
World
The Presidential democracies are BLUE