Forms of Government. State Form

1.

State Form
Student: Farah Sadek
Group: 19LC1A
Course: Law Studies
Professor:

2.

• Definition: form of government - the members of a social organization who are in
power. Political system. Social group - people sharing some social relation
• What state form means?
• State tax forms are the information forms that you fill out when filing
your state income tax return. Here are some details.

3.

Types of States :
• States vary based on who holds power, who elects the empowered, and how authority
is maintained.
• To classify these governments is by looking at how leaders gain power. Under this
system, governments fall into general categories of authoritarianism, oligarchy, and
democracy.

4.

• Authoritarian governments differ in who holds power and in how much control
they assume over those that they govern, but all are marked by the fact that the
empowered are unelected individuals. One well-known example of this type of
government is a monarchy.
• An oligarchy is a form of government in which power effectively rests with a
small elite segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family, military, or
religious hegemony. One common example is theocracy.
• Democracy is a form of government in which the right to govern is held by the
majority of citizens within a country or a state. All members of the society have
equal access to power and all members enjoy universally recognized freedoms and
liberties.

5.

Examples
• Authoritarian Governments :
A monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or
nominally lodged with an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or until
abdication. The person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. There is no clear
definition of monarchy. Some monarchs hold unlimited political power while many
constitutional monarchies, such as the United Kingdom and Thailand, have
monarchs with limited political power. Hereditary rule is often a common
characteristic, but elective monarchies are also considered monarchies (e.g., The
Pope) and some states have hereditary rulers, but are considered republics (e.g., the
Dutch Republic). Currently, 44 nations in the world have monarchs as heads of
state.

6.

Examples
• Oligarchic Governments : is a form of government in which power effectively
rests with a small elite segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family,
military, or religious hegemony. An oligarchy is different from a true democracy
because very few people are given the chance to change things. An oligarchy does
not have to be hereditary or monarchic. An oligarchy does not have one clear ruler,
but several powerful people who rule. One common example is that of theocracy.
• Theocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the
state’s supreme civil ruler, or in a broader sense, a form of government in which a
state is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as
divinely guided. Theocratic governments enact theonomic laws. Theocracies are
distinguished from other secular forms of government that have a state religion, or
are merely influenced by theological or moral concepts, and monarchies held “by
the Grace of God. ”

7.

Examples : Democratic Governments
• Democracy is a form of government in which the right to govern is held by
the majority of citizens within a country or a state. The two principles of a
democracy are that all citizens have equal access to power and that all
citizens enjoy universally recognized freedoms and liberties. There are
several varieties of democracy, some of which provide better representation
and more freedoms for their citizens than others. However, if any
democracy is not carefully legislated with balances, such as the separation
of powers, to avoid an uneven distribution of political power, then a branch
of the system of rule could accumulate power and become harmful to the
democracy itself. Freedom of political expression, freedom of speech, and
freedom of the press are essential so that citizens are informed and able to
vote in their personal interests.

8.

Unitary state
• Definition: Unitary state, a system of political organization in which most or all of
the governing power resides in a centralized government, in contrast to a
federal state.
• Feauture:A unitary system of government, or unitary state, is a
sovereign state governed as a single entity. The central government is supreme,
and the administrative divisions exercise only powers that the
central government has delegated to them
• In unitary states, the central government may create (or abolish) administrative
divisions (sub-national units). ... Many unitary states have no areas possessing a
degree of autonomy. In such countries, sub-national regions cannot decide their
own laws. Examples are Romania, Ireland and Norway

9.

Federation
• A federation is a union of a number of self-governing states or regions, which are
joined together under a central government. These things are done by the states (or
regions) in a federalized state. The United States of America is a federation. The
federal (central) government has the highest executive role
• Example: The United States was the first modern federation in which the federal
government in principle could exercise federal government within its memberstates on matters assigned to the federal government.

10.

Confederation
• Is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action,
created by a treaty , confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with
critical issues, such as defense, foreign relations, internal trade or currency, with
the general government being required to provide support for all its members.
Confederalism represents a main form of inter-governmentalism , which is defined
as any form of interaction around states which takes place on the basis of
sovereign independence or government.

11.

Examples:
• Belgium
• Canada
• European Union
• Indigenous confederation in north America
• Switzerland

12.

Reference
• https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/types-ofstates/
• https://www.brainkart.com/article/Unitary-Form-of-Government_34309/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation
• “Unitary State.” The Annenberg Classroom Project,
https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/glossary_term/unitary-state/.
• “Constitutional Limits on Government: Country Studies – France.”
DemocracyWeb,
https://web.archive.org/web/20130828081904/http:/democracyweb.org/l
imits/france.php.
• “Overview of the UK system of government.” Direct.Gov. UK National
Archives,
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/unitary-state