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Forms of government: Difference between revisions

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* open v. closed societies
* open v. closed societies
*  
*  
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?




== Forms of Government ==
== Forms of Government ==
*
>> to do Jared Diamond outline of social organization


=== Greek forms of government ===
 
== Greek word origins of forms of government ==
* monarchy
* monarchy
* aristocracy:
* aristocracy:
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* Corporatocracy = rule by corporations
* Corporatocracy = rule by corporations
* Idiocracy = rule by idiots
* Idiocracy = rule by idiots
== 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
=== 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 Eureopean absolute monarchs ===
* Peter the Great of Russia
* Frederick the Great of Prussia (Germany)
=== why / how do absolute monarch lose power?
> they screw things up .... lose legitimacy
> they tax too much to pay for excesses
> they don't allow dissent
>> can't force agreement
so in Europe .. the solution is parliaments
>> allows dissent, allows debate... shares power w/ the king