GS - Governance (Lesson)

Governance

Introduction

 

 

Types of Governments

We can study a society in one way by examining how the society’s government functions.

As we travel the world studying various cultures, we will study the different types of government.

Governments play an important part in a successful society. People must have rules to live together in an orderly manner. Governments do as much as they can to fulfill the need for order. They can be limited to different extents, meaning there are power restrictions placed on the leader.

We will be studying societies with three different types of governments.

  1. Democracy - In a democracy the power is given to the people. They have the right to choose their leaders and to vote them out of office if the leader fails to lead the country as the people desire.
  2. Dictatorship - In a dictatorship one person has all the power. A dictator makes all the decisions and can limit the freedoms of the people as much as he/she pleases.
  3. Monarchy - In a monarchy a king or queen inherits power as a result of being born into the ruling family. In years past kings and queens had unlimited power much like that of a dictator. Today most kings and queens do not handle the day-to-day operations of the government but serve as “figureheads” meaning they hold ceremonial positions. Today the power in a monarchy is given to an elected official.

 

Characteristics of Governments

Each country that we study will have one of these types of government, so it is important that you understand the characteristics of each government!

Explore the chart below to compare and contrast the different types of government structures to better understand them. 

Chart of Government Characteristics. PDF/Text version is available to download below image.

 

You can download a PDF version of this chart by clicking here. Links to an external site.

 

Can you complete the chart?

Take a look at the chart and the options. Can you determine which government type goes where? Where would you put each item?


Options: Anarchy, Democracy, Military Government, Monarchy, Oligarchy

Image of an Arrow 

 


Think About This

 

All societies must have governmental structures in place to maintain order and peace in order to function. As you have seen there are different types of governments and they each have positive and negative elements. As we travel the world learning about other cultures, remember the good and bad parts of each type of government and how they apply to each society’s governmental systems.

 

 IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS