Comparing Forms of Government

Comparing Forms Of Government

How should political power and economic power be distributed in a society?

Introduction
Pg. 19

In September 2018, delegates representing the 193 members of the United Nations met in New York City for the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly. The majority of these nations’ governments are categorized as democracies. The governments of a few nations are monarchies. Fewer yet are dictatorships.

Among the members of the United Nations are countries with vastly different populations, forms of government, and economic systems. Consider, for example, the differences between two of the newer members: Switzerland and South Sudan. Switzerland joined the United Nations in 2002, and South Sudan joined in 2011. However, other than UN membership, Switzerland and South Sudan have

little in common.

Switzerland existed as an independent nation in Central Europe for more than 350 years before joining the United Nations. Over eight million Swiss live in a prosperous nation with a thriving market economy. With a literacy rate of about 99 percent, the Swiss are among the world’s best-educated people. They also enjoy one of the world’s highest standards of living.

In contrast, South Sudan became an independent state several days before joining the United Nations in 2011. Prior to its independence, South Sudan was part of Sudan, a landlocked African country with a history of political instability and civil wars. After Sudan gained independence from British rule in 1956, the people of southern Sudan sparsely won positions in their government. After years of civil war and discontent, South Sudan finally gained independence from the rest of Sudan. Today, South Sudan is an impoverished nation with a traditional economy. About one-quarter of adults in South Sudan can read, and living standards are low. In 2013, another civil war broke out within South Sudan leading to hundreds of thousands of casualties.

The people of Switzerland and South Sudan do have one thing in common. When facing the question of who should have power to rule their nations, both answered, “the people.” For the Swiss, this decision was made in 1848, when they adopted a constitution that created a democratic government. The South Sudanese, however, only recently built a democracy. With ongoing rebellion and war within the country, it is unclear whether this endeavor will be successful.

1. The Origins and Evolution of Government
Pg. 20

All societies, large and small, develop some form of government. During prehistoric times, when small bands of hunter-gatherers wandered Earth in search of food and game, government might have been as simple as a few elders making decisions for the group. The invention of farming triggered the evolution of more formal systems of governments. Once people learned how to raise food, they settled down into permanent villages. This new way of life created a host of new problems and conflicts. Governments had to evolve to meet the needs of the more complex societies they ruled.

​Link to university of Milwaukee Wisconsin Digital Library:
https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/11346/

The Ancient World: From City-States to Empires
Pg. 20

Over time, some farming villages grew into cities and city-states. A city-state is a sovereign state consisting of a city and its surrounding territory.

Around 3000 B.C.E., the first city-states arose in Sumer, a region located in what is today southern Iraq. There, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Sumerians grew crops of barley, wheat, dates, apples, and plums.

Then, as now, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates was largely desert. Farming in this region depended on irrigation. Governments arose to resolve issues pertaining to the fair and orderly distribution of water. They also provided protection by building walls around their cities and organizing armies to ward off invasions by nomadic tribes. A similar evolution occurred in ancient Egypt, India, and China.

Gradually, power in many city-states became concentrated in the hands of a single ruler. The strongest of these rulers conquered neighboring city-states to create the world's first empires. Sargon of Akkad was one of Sumer's early conquerors. Sargon, whose name is thought to mean "the true king," carried out more than 30 battles against the Sumerian city-states to consolidate his empire. To legitimize their power, empire-builders like Sargon often declared that the gods had given them the right to rule. Some rulers even claimed to be gods themselves. As power passed from father to son in these early empires, monarchy became the most common form of government in the ancient world.

Greece and Rome: Early Forms of People Power
Pg. 21

In the fifth century B.C.E., the Greek city-state of Athens made a radical change in its form of government. The Athenians reorganized their city-state as a direct democracy. In a direct democracy, public decisions are made directly by citizens meeting together in an assembly or voting by ballot.

Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people. When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law; when it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses.

—Pericles, "Funeral Oration," 431 B.C.E.

When Pericles spoke of government being in the hands of "the whole people," he meant in the hands of male citizens of Athens. Others, including women, slaves, and foreign-born people living in Athens, were not allowed to participate in government affairs. For those citizens who did qualify, however, they participated on a scale that was unique in the ancient world. Never before had so many people dedicated so much of their time to the business of governing themselves.

Elsewhere, the Italian city-state of Rome was developing a different form of people power. In 509 B.C.E., the Roman people overthrew their monarchy and turned Rome into a republic. Over time, the Romans set up a new form of government called a representative democracy to govern their republic. In a representative democracy, public decisions are made by leaders who are elected by the citizens to represent their interests.

The Roman Republic lasted nearly 500 years. During the centuries of the republic, officials elected by Rome's citizens headed the government. Then, in 31 B.C.E., after 20 years of civil war, the Roman Empire was established. Under the government of the empire, power passed from elected leaders to emperors who held absolute power for life.

The Middle Ages: From Feudalism to Nation-States
Pg. 21-22

For a time, Rome's emperors ruled an empire that included most of Europe, as well as North Africa and western Asia. In 476 C.E., Rome fell to invading tribes from the east. In parts of Europe once ruled by mighty Rome, the empire broke into tiny districts. After the empire was divided, each district was ruled by a duke, lord, king, or other noble.

With no strong central government to provide security, each district had to look out for itself. It often made sense for weak nobles to look to a nearby, more powerful neighbor for protection. However, this protection came with a price. Because money was scarce, the more powerful lord or local king usually took his payment from weaker nobles in the form of land. In this way, some lords gained control of very large areas.

By the 700s, many lords acquired more land than they could manage. They began granting parcels of land, called fiefs, to tenants. In return, the tenant became the lord's vassal. A vassal took an oath of loyalty to the lord and promised to provide him with military service in times of war. This system of exchanging the use of land for military and other services became known as feudalism.

In addition to serving as warriors, the vassals also had political obligations. For example, they all sat together at the lord's court to help settle disputes. The lord was also expected to seek the advice and consent of his vassals before making new laws. Europe's parliaments developed from meetings of vassals summoned by a lord or king.

During the 1200s, the feudal system of lords and vassals entered a period of decline. The 1300s saw the rise of absolute monarchies, or governments headed by hereditary rulers who claimed unlimited powers. These powerful monarchs consolidated the patchwork of feudal districts in their kingdoms into the world's first nation-states.

By the 1700s, several European countries had become nation-states headed by absolute monarchs. These all-powerful rulers based their legitimacy on the divine right of kings theory. So important was the role of the monarch in France that Louis XIV is reported to have said of himself, "L'état c'est moi" ("I am the state").

The Age of Revolutions: Democracies and Dictatorships
Pg. 22-24

Some monarchs ruled with the best interests of their people in mind. Others, however, ruled as despots, or tyrants, who used their power for selfish ends. The actions of despots led to growing dissatisfaction with this form of government and triggered a series of world-altering revolutions, first in Europe and then in the American colonies.

The first of these revolutions against tyranny occurred in England in 1688. The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Bloodless Revolution, led to the establishment of Europe's first constitutional monarchy—a system of government in which the powers of the monarch are limited by a constitution, either written or unwritten.

The Age of Revolutions: Democracies and Dictatorships
Pg. 22-24

The second of these revolutions began in 1775, when American colonists rebelled against what they saw as British tyranny. The American Revolution led to the creation of the first modern constitutional democracy—a democratic government based on a written constitution. Abraham Lincoln would later describe this form of democracy as "government of the people, by the people, for the people.

A third revolution broke out in 1789, when the French people took up arms against their king. At first, the French Revolution seemed likely to produce another constitutional democracy. Instead, it took a radical turn and eventually collapsed into chaos. In time, Napoleon Bonaparte restored order, but only by establishing an authoritarian regime—a system of government in which the state exercises broad control over the lives of its citizens. Napoleon, for example, used secret police forces to spy on French citizens. To stifle opposition, he censored the press while mounting his own propaganda campaigns.

Some historians argue that Napoleon's approach to governing set the stage for the rise of totalitarianism in the 20th century. A totalitarian government is an extreme form of an authoritarian regime that seeks to control almost every aspect of its citizens' lives.

The Age of Revolutions: Democracies and Dictatorships
Pg. 22-24

Twentieth-century totalitarianism dates back to the Russian Revolution of 1917. That revolution overthrew the Russian monarchy. In its place, revolutionaries

established the Soviet Union, which became the world's first state based on communism.

The term communism refers to a political theory originally developed by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the 1800s about the ideal society. Marx's goal was the creation of a society that provides equality and economic security for all. To accomplish that end, he called for people to share ownership of land, factories, and other resources. Governments based on communism often involve a system in which a single political party controls the government and the economy.

The theory of communism appealed to many people in the 1900s. In practice, however, it led to the creation of totalitarian states, first in the Soviet Union and later in other countries, such as China, Vietnam, and Cuba. In these states, dictators like Joseph Stalin used spies, secret police, and government censors to suppress all opposition.

The Age of Revolutions: Democracies and Dictatorships
Pg. 22-24

A form of totalitarianism known as fascism first appeared in Italy during the 1920s. A fascist state resembles a communist state in terms of its control of citizens' lives. Unlike communism, however, fascism allows businesses to remain in private ownership, albeit under government control. Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator of Italy, used his power to transform his country into a police state.

A third type of totalitarianism, Nazism, took root in 20th century Germany. Nazism is a variety of fascism built in part on the myth of racial superiority. After taking power in 1933, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler began killing Jews and other groups he defined as "undesirable.

2. Forms of Government in Today's World
Pg. 25

With the exception of Antarctica, the landmasses on Earth are divided into nation-states. Some of these countries, such as Switzerland, have existed for hundreds of years. Others, like South Sudan, are new. Almost all have some form of functioning government. As Aristotle observed more than 2,000 years ago, these governments fall into three broad groups: rule by the one (monarchies and dictatorships), rule by the few (theocracies and single-party states), and rule by the many (parliamentary and presidential democracies).