Forms of government

Distribution of power

• open v. closed societies
• centralized v. decentralized government
• relevant vocabulary includes:
  • authority
  • autonomy
  • extents v. limits of power/authority
  • legitimacy
  • mandate/s
  • overlapping authorities

questions to ask about "distribution of power" > do you have to share power? / decision making/ > who do you have to please/ pay off? > who can you cut off? > how do you maintain legitimacy?

State

• a "state" is an independent political entity
  • a nation or country that exercises its own authority and sovereignty
• note that US (American) "states" share power with the central government
  • the U.S. Constitution combines them into a single nation through a system of shared powers

Basic forms of government

• tribal
  • population 10-100 people
  • communal authority
• chiefdom
  • population: 50-1,0000+
  • centralized authority
• state
  • population: 1,000-+
  • centralized authority

adapted from Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs & Steel," p. << to do chart

Greek terms for forms of government

note the hierarchy here from elite / centralized to democratic /popular rule

• monarchy
  • rule of one ("mono")
• aristocracy:
  • rule of the best ("aristo")
    • is most easily understood as a social class as opposed to a form of government
    • as a form of government is a type of oligarchy
    • will rule to protect landed interests and family lineages
  • in other oligarchies, the elites will rule to protect commercial or other interests
• oligarchy
  • rule by many ("oli")
  • rule by elites
• oligarchy v. aristocracy
  • students can become confused by the distinction between the two
    • oli = "many" but only in the sense of more than rule by pure Aristocratic birth
    • oli refers to spread of power to non-landed, non-hereditary elites
• tyranny
  • rule by one but not a monarch
  • power seized not inherited
• thalassocracy
  • rule by maritime empire
  • from Greek thalla for "sea"
• republic
  • "res publica" = for the people
  • rule by representatives selected by the people
• democracy
  • rule by the people ("demos")
• mobocracy or ochlocracy
  • rule by mob through intimidation
  • mobs may also be used by unscrupulous politicians

Modern variations of Greek terms

• Kleptocracy = rule by the corrupt
  • from the Greek "kléptō" for "I steal"
  • ex. "kelptomaiac" = one who steals impulsively
• Kakistocracy = rule by the worst
  • from the Greek "kakistos" for "the worst"

click EXPAND for 1877 use of the term:

American poet James Russell Lowell, 1877:

"What fills me with doubt and dismay is the degradation of the moral tone. Is it or is it not a result of Democracy? Is ours a 'government of the people by the people for the people,' or a Kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?"

from [Wikipedia]

• Corporatocracy = rule by corporations
• Idiocracy = rule by idiots
• hydraulic empire = rule by controlling water supply

Modern terms for forms of government

• authoritative
• democracy
• fascism
• laissez-faire
• mixed
• regulatory state
• republic
• totalitarianism

authoritarian state

• authority through state apparatus (elements), including
  • bureaucracy
  • judicial system controlled by central authority
  • military
  • police / secret police
  • state-owned media
• authoritarian states frequently pretend to employ democratic structures
  • but those institutions are centrally and not popularly (the people) controlled

fascist state / fascism

• from the Roman symbol of authority based upon a "fasces"
  • which is a bundle of sticks, i.e., they are stronger when together, break easily when separated
  • the "fasces" is a common emblem across history and types of government
    • including in the U.S. in order to symbolize strength through unity
• fascism as a political system was created by Italy under Mussolini and Germany under Hitler in the 1920s/1930s
• fascism uses authoritarian and totalitarian methods and structures
  • it is basically the same thing
  • however, some political scientists distinguish fascism by use of "charismatic" leadership
    • = the power is built upon leaders who make popular appeals to the people for their support
    • that is, the people support the fascist government
    • charismatic leadership is referred to in fascism as "cult of personality"

totalitarian state

• same as "authoritarian" except the totalitarian state abolishes all pretense (pretending) of democracy
  • i.e., the people have no representative institutions
  • as opposed to authoritarian states that pretend to maintain democratic institutions

Monarchy

Absolute monarchy in Europe

• as states were formed in Europe at the end of the feudal period (see Feudalism entry)
  • monarchs who had governed through alliances and confederations with local or lesser princes or lords
    • centralized state power around themselves
• some monarchs were able to almost completely centralize power around themselves
  • as opposed to sharing with a legislature or a church
  • others were unable to completely take power
  • example, in the Republic of Poland, the king was elected by and subject to the local lords

Louis XIV

• "l'etat c'est moi" = "I am the state"
• "Versailles"
  • outside of Paris = detached from the city
    • the traditional palace of French monarchs was the "Louvre", which is inside Paris
• "J'ai failli d'attendre" = "I almost had to wait"
  • Louis XIV was purported to have said this when he stepped out of his palace door and his carriage was only just then arriving
  • i.e., that he "almost" had to wait was an affront (insult) to him
• see this page for more on the history of France and Louis XIV

Henry VIII England

> declared himself head of the Church of England >> transposes himself for the pope > selcting bishops > church taxes (tithes) > taking church property

other European absolute monarchs

• Peter the Great of Russia
• Frederick the Great of Prussia (Germany)

Monarchy problems to consider

• why / how does an absolute monarch lose power?

• loses legitimacy via:
  • raise taxes to pay for excesses or war
  • deliberate devaluation of currency (causing inflation)
  • don't allow dissent
  • can't force agreement
  • neglect or divert resources from public work

• in Europe
• the solution is parliaments >> allows dissent, allows debate... shares power w/ the king

Thalassocracy

• also known as
  • "maritime empire
  • naval supremacy
  • "stato de mar"
• poet Ralph Waldo Emerson observed that

The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most.

Ancient thalassocracies

• Phoenician states, 6th-2nd century B.C.

• 

  Major Phoenician trade networks (c. 1200–800 BC)

  • Tyre & Sidon (in The Levant), Carthage
• Athenian Empire, Aegean Sea, 5th to 4th centuries BC
• Chola dynasty of Tamil (southern) India, 4th century BC

Medieval thalassocracies

• Medieval Cholas, 9th-13th centuries AD
• Srivijaya in Sumatra (modern Indonesia), Buddhist 7th to 12 centuries, AD
• Majapahit, Hindu-Buddhist trade/ maritime empire , Southeast Asia, 13th to 15th centuries

Italian late middle ages thalossocracies

• Italian maritime / merchant states:
  • Genoa
  • Venice, 13th to 15th centuries AD, maintained shipyards ("Arsenal") across trade destinations across the Mediterranean and Black seas

Age of Discovery thalassocracies

• European trade/ maritime empires (in order of prominence)
  • Portuguese Empire
  • Spanish Empire
  • Dutch Empire

Early modern thalassocracies

• • British empire
• Omani Empire, Muslim trade/ maritime empire of eastern Arabian peninsula and East Africa, 18th and 19th centuries AD