Types of Governments

Not all countries are democracies. Other types of governments include the following:

1. Monarchy
   • Absolute monarchy
   • Constitutional monarchy
2. Parliamentary democracy
3. Oligarchy
4. Dictatorship

Great Britain’s government is a constitutional monarchy. In a monarchy, leadership is passed down through family lines. Many countries, such as Monaco, Qatar, and Spain, have monarchies. In an absolute monarchy, like Saudi Arabia, the monarchy holds all the power of government. Great Britain, like most modern monarchies, is a constitutional monarchy. In a constitutional monarchy, the monarch’s power is limited according to the rules of the country’s constitution.

In a constitutional monarchy, the monarch serves as a head of state, or the chief public representative of a country, but much of the governing is done by parliament. A parliament is a type of legislature, similar to Congress in the United States. In a parliamentary democracy, people vote for the legislative body that, in turn, selects the chief leader of parliament. The leader of parliament also holds executive power of the government. The chief executive is often called a prime minister. The political party that holds the majority in parliament elects the prime minister. The prime minister is the head of the government and the leader of the political party that has the most seats in parliament. A presidential democracy is different from a parliamentary democracy because the president does not necessarily belong to the majority party in Congress.

An oligarchy is a political system in which power is held by a small group of people, usually the nobility, military, or wealthy citizens. Examples of oligarchies are Russia and China.

In a dictatorship, a single person takes authority and shares power with no one. Leaders are not elected. North Korea is ruled by a dictator. Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany were dictators before and during World War II.