C.3 Political Science, Skill #6

C.3 Political Science, Skill #6

Compare various political systems in terms of elements, structures, and functions.

Describing government based on where authority lies

centralized government can have more uniform policy, equity, and less conflict decentralized considered closer to people, more responsive and flexible to meeting their citizens' needs and open to innovation  three types unitary: all of the authority lies in a sole, central organization; every citizen entitled to the same rights and benefits so it is easier to maintain unity and form a common national identity confederal (confederation): most of the power is allocated tor regional governments who can defy national government to whom they allow only a limited amount of power federal: member states give up most of their power to a central gov but retain some power as well; shared powers tend to work well in countries where variations in economy/ condition/ culture make it difficult to impose a single system shared

Describing gov. by how the executive and legislative branches interact

parliamentary system fusion of the executive (law making) and legislative (law enforcing) branches executive leader referred to as the prime minister/ premier executive not separated from the legislative branch but is a member elected by other members to preside over it must resign if lose a vote of confidence strength deliver effective, but responsible government prime minister can easily implement legislative agenda with the confidence of the parliament problem must rely upon catering to minority parties in order to gain power

presidential system based on the application of separation of powers executive, legislative, judicial functions divided into separate branches that retain an equal amount of power and have a set of checks and balances that give each branch their own jurisdiction of power and limit the power of each weakness because power is shared, if the parties in power in the executive and legislative branches are different, legislative agendas may be hindered by one party refusing to negotiate with the other

Defining government based on the number of decision makers who participate in government operations

anarchy no one is making the decisions in government believes in the elimination of the state and the instead advocates self-rule by individuals in autonomous communities (stateless societies) "stateless society" can also apply to groups of people without a physical area/ leader to call their own autocracy only one person has dominant power and makes all the decision in government power controlled by a monarch, political dictator, or a religious leader do not hold elections oligarchy political power rests with a small, elite group that makes all of the decisions in government; tend to be exclusionary and not allow new groups into it hold elections; tend to engage in practices that limit opponents competitive oligarchy share power but tend to arise as transitional governments that have come out of a dictatorship plutocracy led by only a few, super wealthy individuals polyarchy hold elections; tend to hold fair elections consist of a rule by a group with mass participation that relies on a leadership that is managed by competing elites democratic in that there is some choice and competition for power, but undemocratic in that mas participation is limited to only what the wealthy elites permit democracy everyone given the opportunity to participate in government and power distributed evenly and more widely diffused representative democracy people choose individuals to run government and to make decisions for them   communist all goods and production are owned equally, no individual ownership socialist operates under the belief that the inequalities that exist in society are unjust and the government provides extensive social services to its citizens

Defining government by how the leaders get their positions

monarchy leader obtains position by hereditary means constitutional monarchy monarch but also a government that is elected and a constitution that sets to how the government should function republic leaders are elected

Defining government based on whether there are effective constraints on the government

constitutional effective constraints on the gov dictatorship no effective constraints on government oldest form of government does not require the permission of the people for an individual to take hold of gov has absolute control over a gov, often have complete control over citizen's lives military dictatorship systems based on military power authoritarian government rulers can make decisions without consent of those they are governing totalitarian government extreme form of authoritarian government attempts to achieve complete conformity with no disagreement tolerated

Defining gov by rights of citizens

monarchies   historically, majority of citizens didn't have voice in public life; main contribution of citizen is as a subject historically, political power reserved for aristocrats who controlled most of land/ wealth over time nobles began to demand greater role in society and eventually the king's power became restricted and political rights extended to a greater number of people Marxist citizen sacrifices the expense of the individual for the greater good of the state Democracy everyone involved in political process so everyone has responsibility