the group of people with the authority to oversee a country or state

What does a government do?

• Governments create laws in order to control the population

• Laws create order at the expense of freedom

• There are many systems in place to create laws that benefit or control people the most

Words to know

• Head of State- head of the country itself, representative to other countries

• Head of Government- the leader of the people who make laws, pass taxes, ratify treaties, and run the bureaucracy.

• Constitution- How a government is organized and designed to function.

• Bureaucracy-people who make the laws work

• Legislators- People who write the laws

Dictatorship

• A single person has complete control of a country

• Tightly controlled society• Intimidation, propaganda, strict

punishments, and public executions keep people under control

Pinochet

Pol Pot

FidelCastro

Al Assad

How to start your own dictatorship

• Get elected into power and change the laws – Adolf Hitler (Germany)

• Unite the working poor against a common oppressor – Vladimir Lenin (Russia)

• Have the military take over – Emílio Médici (Brazil) 1969

• Be put in place by more powerful country – Kim il-sung (North Korea)

Dictatorships

• Cuba

• North Korea

• Imperial Roman Empire

• Ottoman Caliphate

• United Soviet Socialist Republics

• Nazi Germany

Dictators

•Fidel/Raul Castro

•Kim Jong Un

•Caesar

•Caliph

•Premier Joseph Stalin

•Adolf Hitler

Absolute Monarchy

• Rule of one

• Head of State is an inherited title

• The monarch has all the power

• Examples – Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Medieval France, Germany, Spain

Constitutional Monarchy

• The power of a monarch is limited by a constitution

• The monarch remains as head of state or the sovereign

• An elected/appointed prime minister is head of the government

• Examples – United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain

Oligarchy

• Rule of the few

• Power can be controlled by a political party, the military, or a dictator and his supporters

Direct Democracy

• Rule of the many

• A system where all the decision making power is given to the people

• All citizens gather to vote for everything

• The truest form of democracy existed in the Ancient Greek city of Athens

• Male Athenians voted on everything

– Judged if a person was guilty of a crime

– Determined whether or not to go to war

– People were ostracized or forced to leave for ten years to prevent individuals from becoming too powerful

• In 411 BCE Athenians voted to end Democracy

Pericles gets ostracized

• The people elect representatives to represent them in government.

• These elected officials make the laws

• Republics do not have monarchs

• Parliamentary Republic - The people elect the president as head of state

• The Prime Minister is chosen by the dominant political party in the legislator

• Prime Minister-Head of Government– Examples- France, Austria, Italy, Poland,

‘Russia’

Voters

Legislative Branch (legislators)

PRESIDENT(Head of State)

Prime Minister

(Head of Government)

• A state (country) with power divided among different states, provinces, or regions

• President is Head of State & Government– Examples- United States, Argentina, Mexico,

India

Theocracy

• A system of government controlled by a religious leader– Examples: Vatican City, Iran, Ancient Egypt

Revolution

• a fundamental change in power and society

• Revolutions end an oppressive government

• Starts by protesting regular people

Revolution

• Revolutions are typically violent

• French Revolution lasted from 1787-1799

– France beheaded its king and became a republic

– All things in France that were associated with the monarchy were changed as well

Arab Spring

• In December 2010 26 year old Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in public to protest the corrupt dictatorship of Tunisia

• This got Tunisians and other Arabs to rise up against the dictators ruling their countries.

• By Spring 2011 Tunisia’s dictator was kicked out of Tunisia

Arab Spring

•Egypt, Libya, and Yemen’s dictators were also removed from power through revolting

•Morocco and Jordan reformed their kingdoms to make the people happy

Summer 2011

• Bahrain and Saudi Arabia violently put down protesting

• The dictator of Syria attempted to crush the protests by shelling cities and killing people.

• the people of Syria continue to fight against the dictator