1-2 Vocabulary: Types of Government

1-2: Types of Government

Classifying Governments (Three Elements)

•  who can participate in the governing process

• the geographic distribution of governmental power within the state

• the relationship between the legislative (lawmaking) and the executive (law-executing) branches of the government.

1. Democracy

a government in which the supreme power is held by the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.

Open Ended

What is the difference between a direct democracy and an indirect democracy?

2. Republic

a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.

Multiple Select

Many Americans use the terms _____ ,_______,______ , and _______ form of government interchangeably, although they are not the same.

• democracy

• republic

• representative democracy

• republican

• Dictatorship

Multiple Choice

In a _______ the people are sovereign. They are the only source for any and all of government’s power. In other words, the ______ rule.

• Autocracy, elite

• Democracy, People

• Monarchy, Kings

• Oligarchy, Aristocrats

3. Dictatorship

 a form of government characterized by a single leader or group of leaders and little or no toleration for political pluralism or independent programs or media, a form of government where those who rule cannot be held responsible to the will of the people.

Multiple Choice

Oligarchy and autocracy are other forms of a dictatorship

• True

• False

4. Unitary Government 

 a centralized government in which all government powers belong to a single, central agency.

5. Federal Government  

a system of dividing up power between a central national government and local state governments that are connected to one another by the national government.

6. Division of Powers

the principle that sovereignty should be divided between the federal government and the states especially as expressed by the Constitution of the U.S.

Multiple Choice

In a unitary form of government the central government shares power with local governments

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The United States has a _______ form of government

• Confederate

• Unitary

• Federal

• Monarchy

7. Presidential Government 

a form of government in which the executive and legislative branches of the government are separate, independent, and coequal

8. Parliamentary Government- 

democratic form of government in which the party (or a coalition of parties) with the greatest representation in the parliament (legislature) forms the government, its leader becoming prime minister or chancellor.