This document provides information about different forms of government through a series of slides in a PowerPoint presentation. It compares and contrasts democracy with dictatorship, republic with oligarchy, representative democracy with direct democracy, monarchy with aristocracy, and totalitarianism with federalism. For each type of government, it provides key defining features and current or historical examples. It concludes by asking the reader to state which form of government they would ideally create and include examples to support their choice.

1. Module 1 Mastery
Assignment 2
Types of Governments
Directions: Using the information you read in the
Notes and Resources folder, complete the
PowerPoint presentation that follows. For each
slide, evaluate the difference between the different
forms of government listed at the top. Make sure
you provide examples of current nations that have
the form of government described. DO NOT
COPY AND PASTE…the information needs to
be in your own words.

2. Democracy vs. Dictatorship
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People vote to make
choices
Majority rule
People have the power
Everyone has equal
rights
Many countries are
democracies including:
France, Canada, and the
Netherlands
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Power is taken by force
Often military force is
used to maintain power
One person or small
group has total power
Some countries are:
North Korea, Saudi
Arabia, and Iran

3. Republic vs. Oligarchy
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A gov’t in which citizens
vote and elect
representatives
There is a chief of staff
which is usually a
president
Examples: Chile,
Columbia, Costa Rica
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The gov’t is controlled
by a small group of
people
Rulers are typically rich
or privileged groups and
do not have to be related
to rule.
An example is South
Africa in the 20th century
or the Greek city-state of
Sparta

4. Representative Democracy vs.
Direct Democracy
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Both value the principles
of democracy but the
role of the citizens is
slightly different
Citizens elect
representatives to make
decisions on their behalf
Examples: Germany,
Poland, Greece, the
United States
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All citizens directly
participate in
government and vote
An example is the
ancient Greek city-state
of Athens. All citizens
(land owning men)
participated in the
government.

5. Monarchy vs. Aristocracy
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There is one individual
that is the head (the
monarch)
Rule is passed down
through families
Today monarchs don’t
usually have governing
power but just act as
figure heads
Queen Elizabeth II is the
head of the British
monarchy
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Power is with a small
class of privileged people
Only a portion of the
population is represented
This form of gov’t
developed in ancient
Greece because they did
not like monarchy and
democracy didn’t take
root in all city-states

6. Totalitarianism vs. Federalism
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The state has total
authority
They control all possible
aspects of life
Some countries with
totalitarian-like
governments are: China
and North Korea
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When territory is
controlled by two levels
of government
In the United States the
Federal gov’t has control
over matters of the entire
country and state
governments can make
choices only concerning
their area.

7. Your Ideal Form of Government
State and explain in detail which form of government you would create if you were
in charge of building a new country. Be sure to include examples of that type of
government.
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I would want a government set up mostly like the one in the US right
now.
One change I would like to make would be to have citizens themselves
vote on important things like President Obama’s gun proposal. I think
that there would have been a good change for it to pass if the people
got a say because it made perfect sense even for people who are progun.
Another change I would like to make would be to make punishments
for congressmen when they aren’t doing their job. It didn’t make any
sense to me that there was no repercussion for the people who caused
the government shutdown while all of the government employees were
able to work. If something like this happened or nothing was being
accomplished I would suspend the pay of all of the congressmen until
things were getting done and if this didn’t work I would make all of
them ineligible for reelection. (Or maybe just lock them in a room, like
choosing a new Pope, until there is a compromise  )