A. Review of Government Forms


Power Distribution


        This picture explains the levels of power distribution. It shows how Unitary has one level in its government, its national government. Unitary has no state government. Federal has two levels of government. Its levels are national and state. That means that the centralized governments have power, but so do the state governments or outliers. A confederation's power is split between the people united by the confederation. There is little to no power in any kind of centralized government.
 
        Some characteristics of Unitary are: one level of centralized government, they usually work best for small countries, and they are the most popular form of power distribution.
 
        Some characteristics of Federal are: power is split between the state and regional governments, they are the second most common form of power distribution, and an example is Germany.
 
Some characteristics of Confederation are: power is split between several of the regional authorities, it has an extremely weak central government, and it is the most uncommon form of power distribution. Two examples would be: Belgium and Switzerland.
 
 Citizen Participation
 

    
    In the picture above you only see 1 person standing alone. This means that only one person has complete control over the government.

    In an Autocratic government little or NO ONE can participate in the government. Men and women usually do not have equal rights. NO ONE can vote on the leader.This means that there are little or no rights for the people.

 
 
    In the picture above there are a few people standing together. This means that only a small group of people can participate in the government.

    An Oligarchic government is where only a few people can participate in the government. Men and women usually DO NOT have equal rights in oligarchic governments. Only the selected group of people can vote on the leader and make rules.
 
 
    In the picture above you can see that there are many people together. This is meant to say that all of the people in the country can participate in the government.
 
    A democratic government is a government where EVERYONE can participate. In this government, men and women have equal rights for the most part. In a democratic government people can vote for the leader directly or indirectly by representatives. 
 
Presidential and Parliamentary Democracy
 

Description of the picture:

    The biggest and boldest stick figure (Prime Minister) represents the leader of Parliament that was elected by the several medium bolded people (Parliament Members). In the background the non-bolded people (citizens) are only electing the medium bolded group (Parliament Members).

Explanation:

 A Parliamentary Democracy is a type of a republic system in where the leader of Parliament, often called the Prime Minister, is only elected by the legislation (Parliament Members). This type of republic government is the most common in the world. Most of the time in a Parliament Democracy you will have a Prime Minister (that’s your leader of Parliament) and a ceremonial leader (can be called King, Queen or even President).  The Prime Minister is always running the country, while a ceremonial leader only attends formal events. In almost all cases a ceremonial leader never has any authority.

 In a Parliamentary Democracy, citizens will vote on Parliament Members to represent the people in making decisions. After Parliament Members are elected, the representatives vote on a Prime Minister. In a Parliament Democracy citizens never vote for their leader of Parliament. In this type of system you will have only one main political party controlling both the Parliament and the Prime Minister seat. A Prime Minister does not have a term of office; he can stay as Prime Minister as long as he is still supported by the controlling political party. Parliament Members can elect for a new Prime Minister anytime. Two examples of this common government system would be United Kingdom and Canada.



    Presidential democracies are kind of like parliamentary democracies but it has some differences. For example, the citizens vote for the leader and representatives and the parliamentary democracy's citizens only vote for the representatives and the representatives vote for the leader. But basically presidential democracies are where the citizens can vote for the leader and representatives. Also you can criticize the government and you have freedom of speech and press. Furthermore, they can vote for for their leaders and representatives.   
 
Chart by Team Kobra
         
Quick Summary:
  • Unitary, Federal, and Confederation are all types of power distribution.
  • Autocratic, Oligarchic, and Democratic are all types of Citizen Participation.
  • Presidential Democracies have a leader seperate of the legislature. The leader is usually the head of state and chief of state.
  • The leader of a Parliamentary Democracy is elected by the legislature, which are elected as representatives of the people.
  • They also have two seperate people as head of state and chief of state.







    • Written by
    Team Marines
    Compiled from previous articles by Teams:

    Power Distribution-
    Noble Editors
     
    Citizen Participation-
    Team Marines
     
    Parliamentary Democracy-
    Team Ecko
     
    Presidential Democracy-
    Team Kobra

     

    Sources:
    Parkerpedia.com editors
    Noble Editors: Nitsua, Logan, Ethan, and Karl
     
    Marines: David, Lexie, Josh, and Elizabeth
     
    Ecko: Mateo, Becky, Grace, Lorena, and Prit
     
    Kobra: Erwin, Max, Anjie, and Tyler

    Georgia Performance Standards

     
    SS7CG1 The student will compare and contrast various forms of government.
    a. Describe the ways government systems distribute power: unitary, confederation, and federal.
    b. Explain how governments determine citizen participation: autocratic, oligarchic, and democratic.
    c. Describe the two predominant forms of democratic governments: parliamentary and presidential.


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