Lesson 2: Democracy and Other Forms of Government
In this lesson, we will look at some different types of government, starting
with totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. We will also learn a few Greek
terms used to define governments. We will then talk about democracy and more
specifically, direct democracy. We will close by defining republic, democratic
republic, and representative democracy, and discussing the principles that are
key to democratic government.
When studying governments,
it is good to go over the various forms of government from
one extreme to the other.
One form of government is a Totalitarian Regime. That is a form of government
that controls all aspects of the political, social, and economic life of a
nation.
In a Totalitarian Regime,
the people do not have any say in
how they are going to
be governed. Government makes all the decisions and enforces them strictly.
There is also a form of government known as Authoritarianism. Authoritarianism
is a type of regime in which only the government itself is fully controlled by
the ruler. Social and economic institutions exist that are not under the
government's control.
That means the government does not control things such as the churches or the
businesses. At least on the surface, these institutions appear to govern
themselves while the government is controlled by a dictator or monarch.
Many of our political terms come from
the ancient Greeks who studied political systems and deliberated at length on
which form was the most beneficial. Aristocracy means "rule by the best." In an
Aristocracy, the wealthy would be in power. Theocracy means "rule by God." In a
Theocracy, it would be religious leaders in power. Oligarchy means "rule by a
few." An Oligarchy might be governed by a royal family or a dictator.
Another form of government is democracy. Democracy is a system of government in
which political authority is vested in the people.
In a sense, democracy is a form of government in
which the people actually shift from being *under* the control of a government
to being *in* control. On the face of it, they are not controlled by a king or
a dictator. They govern themselves.
But, there are even different forms of democracy. For instance, there is direct
democracy. That is a system of government in which political decisions are made
by the people directly, rather than by their elected representatives.
In the Athenian system of ancient Greece, all laws were debated and voted on by
the people. That is considered to be the purest form of Direct Democracy. There
was a ruling council, but this ruling council would put all matters in the
hands of the legislature, which consisted of all the citizens of Athens. Women,
slaves, and residents from other regions or countries were not considered
citizens.
Do we have direct democracy in the United States?
There are some states that have a form of direct democracy with a system that
utilizes things such as the referendum and the recall.
A referendum, or an initiative, is a way of putting matters that
concern them into the hands of the people. Then, they must vote for or against
it. A recall is a process by which the people can remove an elected
representative from office without having to wait until the end of their term.
The fact is that there are inherent dangers in
having a direct democracy. What keeps a direct democracy from working are
uneducated citizens and political manipulation. Also, how do you protect the
rights of the minority?
In order for a direct democracy to work,
the citizens have to be well-educated on the issues. They have to be free from
political leadership that will attempt to
manipulate their decision-making process. It is also feared that the rights of
minorities will be suppressed by the ruling majority.
Another form of government is a Republic. In a Republic, sovereign power rests
with the people, rather than with a king or a monarch.
The framers of the U.S. Constitution desired a government that
would be ruled by good citizens of the people who would take turns in office
and make laws based on commonly-held beliefs and virtues. Small communities
would have their own governments based on this larger model.
What happens then when you put a Democracy together with a Republic?
You get a Democratic Republic or a republic in
which representatives elected by the people make and enforce laws and policies.
So a Democratic Republic, then, is a government where the people hold the
sovereign power, but they elect officials to carry out the duties of making the
laws that govern them.
There is also Representative Democracy. It is not very different from a
Democratic Republic. In places such as the United Kingdom and other countries
that have a royal family, the people were not too thrilled about removing the
monarch from their system of government. So, they opted for a Representative
Democracy, which is a form of government in which representatives elected by
the people make and enforce laws and policies, but the monarchy is retained in
a ceremonial role.
In the United Kingdom, there is a system in place where the people elect
officials who govern them, but they also have a royal family. The Queen is a
respected figure in the U.K., but she is mainly viewed as a symbolic leader
rather than having any real power.
There are
plenty of principles typical to a Democratic government. One of these is
Universal Suffrage, which is the right of all citizens to vote. Freedom of the
Press is the right of all people to print their opposing views. Freedom of
Speech is the right of all people to speak on their opposing views.
At one time, only white males who owned property were allowed to vote. The
battle for the right to vote was long and ultimately guaranteed African
American males the right to vote in 1870. But, they still often faced legal
barriers to voting until the Voting Rights Act was signed in 1965.
Furthermore, women also had to fight for the right to vote,
which they won when the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.
If it had not have been for the Freedom of the Press or Free Speech, neither of
these things could have happened. That is how a Democratic Government is
supposed to work -- majority rules, but not at the expense of minority rights.
The government is not allowed to make any law that it wants. This is to
protect the people from leadership that might get off track and start heading
back towards a dictatorship.
That is why the U.S. has a limited government. The U.S. Constitution sets down
the fundamental structure of the government and the limits to its activities.