There are several types of political states. States can be classified based on the head of state (such as a monarchy where power is hereditary or a republic with an elected president), their origins and system of governance (democratic states where citizens participate in elections versus non-democratic systems like dictatorships), their role in the economy and social services (a liberal state that does not intervene versus a social state with public healthcare and pensions), and their levels of authority (centralized states where power is concentrated nationally or decentralized/federal systems with regional and local control).

1. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF SOCIETIES

2. WHAT’S A STATE?
State is a word with several
meanings:
-A sovereign State is a synonim of
country. At the moment there are
206 states in the world, 193 of
which are members of the United
Nations.
-all the institutions created to rule
and organize the activities of a
country

3. TYPES OF
STATES
- depending on the head of State
- depending of its origin and
the way of holding power
- depending on the role of
the State in economy and social
relationships
- depending on the levels of
organization and decision
- MONARCHY
- REPUBLIC
- DEMOCRATIC STATES
- NON-DEMOCRATIC STATES
- LIBERAL STATE
- SOCIAL STATE
- CENTRALIZED STATE
- DECENTRALIZED STATE

4. STATES DEPENDING ON THE HEAD OF STATE
MONARCHY
- The head of State is a king or queen
- Post held for life and hereditary
-In Parliamentary Monarchy, monarchs haven
´t got any power. They are representative
figures.
REPUBLIC
-the head of the State is a president elected by
the citizens.
-If the president holds the executive power, it
is a presidential republic, like in the USA or in
France.
- In other cases the president of the republic is
only a representative figure and the chief of
the executive power is the prime minister, like
in Italy or Germany.
Sergio Mattarella Joachim Gauck

5. STATES DEPENDING ON THE ORIGIN AND THE WAY OF HOLDING POWER
DEMOCRACY
Type of State in which all the
citizens participate in the
government, there is a
Constitution, there is a division
of powers and the individuals and
governments are under the Rule
of Law (the institutions of the
State have to respect the laws,
which can´t be retroactive, that is,
that they can´t be applied to a
fact that has taken place before
the law was approved).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6jgWxkbR7A

6. The citizens participate in the
government through the elections.
In a democratic State elections have
to fulfill some conditions:
-they have to be free: the electors
are free to vote or not
-they have to be periodic: elections
have to take place periodically
-plural: there must be different
options to choose
-by universal suffrage: all the
citizens can vote, without exception.

7. Democratic States have a
Constitution, which is the
supreme law of a country
that includes the rights and
duties of the citizens and
the organization of the
State.
The USA Constitution was the first to be written in the world
The first Spanish Constitution was issued in 1812 and the last one in 1978

8. In democratic States there is a division of
powers: power is not concentrated, but
divided into three branches and held by
different institutions, in order to prevent
abuse:
• Executive power is held by the
Government: they direct the policy and
implement the laws approved by the
Parliament.
• Legislative power lies on the Parliament
(one or two chambers). They make laws
and control the activities of the
government.
• Judicial power is held by the Courts of
Justice. They control the respect to the
laws and punish the people who don´t
respect the laws. Judges are not elected,
but they have to pass public exams,
because they have to be independent.

9. Democracy can be direct or
representative:
• Direct or participatory
democracy: the citizens make
decisions in assemblies directly.
This is only possible in small
places or in certain cases.
• Representative democracy: the
citizens elect the people who
will represent them and rule on
their behalf. The
representatives of the citizens
make the decisions. They belong
to political parties.
A political party is a group of
people who share ideology and
prepare a program that they will
apply if they win the elections.
TYPES OF DEMOCRACY
Representative democracy

10. NON DEMOCRATIC STATES
ABSOLUTE MONARCHY
The monarch holds all the powers
or chooses the people who have to
rule on his/her behalf. Absolute
monarchs affirmed that their power
came from God and they were
untouchable.
Salman ibn Abdulaziz al Saud,
King of Saudi Arabia
Louis XIV, French absolute
monarch in the 17th century
Ferdinand VII, Spanish absolute
monarch in the 19th century
Msvati III of Swaziland

11. DICTATORSHIP
- The rulers have not been
elected by the people. They
have taken the power through a
coup d’État, using force and
they have imposed their will
over the rest of the citizens.
-They control the army and they
use it to oppress the population.
-There are not democratic
elections, there is no real
division of powers and there is
no Constitution.

12. Kim Jong-un, North Korean dictator
Bashar al Assad, Syrian dictator

13. STATES DEPENDING ON THEIR ROLE IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
LIBERAL STATE
It’s based on the law of supply and demand and non intervention of the State in economic and
social relations. The defendants of this State think that the law of supply and demand is
enough to regulate the economic relations between citizens and the State has to keep out of
economic activities.

14. SOCIAL SECURITY
SOCIAL SERVICES
SERVICES FOR THE
UNEMPLOYED
SOCIAL STATE
It’s based on the idea that public
institutions have to intervene in
economy and social relationships to
achive more equity between
citizens.
A social State provides the citizens
with social services, such as
retirement pensions,
unemployment subsidies, public
healthcare and education…

15. STATES DEPENDING ON THE LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION AND DECISION
CENTRALIZED STATE
State in which the central
government controls and
makes decisions
concerning all the country.
DECENTRALIZED STATE
State organized in different
levels. Every level of the
administration (central, regional
and local) is in charge of certain
affairs and powers are
distributed among the different
institutions.
The USA is an example of decentralized State.
States have a lot of powers