Government 

comprises the set of legal and political institutions that regulate the relationships
among members of a society and between the society and outsiders. These institutions have the
authority to make decisions for the society on policies affecting the maintenance of order and the
achievement of certain societal goals. This article provides an overview of the types
of government, the ways authority can be distributed, the divisions of government, and the
functions of government. Separate articles deal with the origins and development of the concept
of the state, the theoretical and practical development of representation, law, and the study
of government.
The power of a government over its own citizens varies, depending on the degree to which it is
free of limitations and restraints. The power of a government abroad also varies, depending on
the human and material resources with which it can support its foreign policy. Governments
range in size and scope from clans, tribes, and the shires of early times to the superpowers and
international governments of today. Until recent times some governments were strong enough to
establish empires that ruled not only their own people but other peoples and states across
national, ethnic, and language boundaries. The present-day counterpart of the empire is the
superpower that is able to lead or dominate other countries through its superior military and
economic strength. Within the modern nation-state, government operates at many different
levels, ranging from villages to cities, counties, provinces, and states.

Types of Government
Aristotle, a Greek political philosopher of the 4th century B.C., distinguished three principal
kinds of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and polity (a kind of enlightened democracy). The
differences among them chiefly concerned whether power were held by one, by a few, or by
many. Aristotle thought that the selfish abuse of power caused each type to become perverted,
respectively, into tyranny, oligarchy, and a lower form of democracy characterized by mob rule.
Monarchy tended to become tyrannical because it vested authority in a single ruler. Aristocracy,
a government based on birth and privilege, in which the rulers governed for the good of the
whole society, tended to become oligarchy as a consequence of restricting political power to a
special social and economic class; only a few members of the class would have enough drive and
ability to acquire the power to govern. The polity, likewise, would deteriorate into ochlocracy, or
mob rule, if the citizens pursued only their selfish interests.
Aristotle's classifications suited the societies of ancient times, but they do not correspond to
the power structure of later societies. Modern writers have developed a variety of schemes for
classifying governments, based on the nature of the ruling class, the economic system, the
government's political institutions, the principles of authority, the acquisition and exercise
of power, and other factors. Some influential writers on government include Thomas Hobbes,
Baron de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, and
the sociologist Max Weber.

Monarchy 
The most common form of government from ancient times to the early part of the 20th century
was monarchy, or rule by a hereditary king or queen. Monarchy passed through three basic
stages, varying according to the nation and the political and economic climate. The first stage
was that of the absolute monarch. In the Christian part of the world during the Middle Ages, a
conflict developed between the pope and the kings who recognized his spiritual authority. The
pope wanted to expand the power of the church beyond spiritual matters to include the temporal
realm. But some kings proclaimed that God had given them the right to rule, and by proclaiming
this divine right they were able to give legitimacy to their reigns and limit the pope's power.
Limited monarchy was the second stage. Kings depended on the support of the most powerful
members of the nobility to retain their thrones. In England and some other Western European
countries, the nobility placed limits on the power of the ruler to govern. This was done in
England, for example, through the Magna Carta. Threatened with the loss of political and
financial support, even the strongest kings and emperors had to accept a system of laws that
protected the rights and privileges of powerful social and economic classes.
The third stage in the evolution of monarchy was the constitutional monarchy. Present-day
monarchs are nearly all symbolic rather than actual rulers of their countries. (A few exceptions
can be found in Africa and Asia.) In such monarchies as Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden,
and Spain, governing power is now in the hands of the national parliaments.

Constitutional Government  
Today most governments derive their legitimacy from national constitutions that provide a legal
framework for their rule and specify how power is to be exercised and controlled. Even one-
party states, such as the traditional Communist countries and other nations in Africa, Asia, and
South America, have found it necessary to establish formal constitutions. In democratic countries
the constitution can be amended or replaced by popular vote, either directly or through a system
of elected representatives. In authoritarian one-party systems, however, all political power,
including that of revising the constitution, resides with the leaders of the party. The constitution
may thus be only a paper facade, and in order to understand how the country is governed one
must examine the actual political process.

Democracy  
Representative government in the modern world is based not only on a constitution that provides
for it but on the actual rule of law — the assurance that provisions of the constitution will be
enforced. It requires that citizens be free to organize competing political parties, engage in
political campaigns, and hold elections according to agreed-upon rules. Democratic governments
vary in structure. Two common forms are the parliamentary and the presidential. In the
parliamentary form of government, as in Australia, Britain, Canada, or India, all
political power is concentrated in the parliament or legislature. The prime minister or premier
and the officers of the cabinet are members of the parliament. They continue in office only as
long as parliament supports — or has "confidence" in — their policies. In the presidential form
of government, as in France and the United States, the voters elect a powerful chief executive
who is independent of the legislature but whose actions are delimited by constitutional and other
legal restraints.

Dictatorship 
As a form of government, dictatorship is principally a 20th-century phenomenon. The dictator,
often a military leader, concentrates political power in himself and his clique. There is no
effective rule of law. The regime may or may not have a distinctive political ideology and may or
may not allow token opposition. The main function of a dictatorship is to maintain control of all
governmental operations. There have been some cases — Indira Gandhi in India and several
military dictatorships in Latin America — in which authoritarian rulers have relaxed their control
and have even allowed open elections. In certain Soviet-bloc countries of Eastern Europe
dictators were forced from power in bloodless coups or voluntarily relinquished their authority to
popularly elected officials as Soviet power declined.
The totalitarian dictatorship, as in Nazi Germany, Communist China, and the former USSR, is
much more thoroughgoing. It seeks to control all aspects of national life, including the beliefs
and attitudes of its people. It has a set of ideas that everyone is expected to embrace, such as
revolutionary Marxism or counterrevolutionary fascism. At its most extreme, as during the
leadership of Joseph Stalin in the USSR, the power of the dictator may become more absolute
than in any of the earlier forms of tyranny. Such gross power in the hands of one person results
inevitably in the development of what has been called a cult of personality. The leader is credited
with almost infallible wisdom, because to admit that he or she may be wrong would deprive the
regime of its authority. In some Communist countries the cult of personality appears to have
given way to the dominance of a group of party leaders — a ruling oligarchy. The administrative
complexities of managing a modern industrial state are too great to be monopolized by an
individual leader such as Stalin or Mao Zedong(Mao Tse-tung). The successor regime in China,
for example, continues to claim infallibility for its policies and doctrines but not for the leaders.
Examples of 20th-century dictators in addition to those already mentioned include Idi Amin
Dada(Uganda), Kemal Atatürk (Turkey), Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro (Cuba),
Francisco Franco (Spain), Saddam Hussein(Iraq), Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines),
Benito Mussolini (Italy), Juan Peron (Argentina), and António Salazar (Portugal).

Distribution of Authority
Effective government in any form requires a workable method for distributing authority within
the country. The larger and more diverse the jurisdiction of the government, the stronger the
tendency toward a federal system in which authority is "layered" or distributed among different
levels. In countries with a relatively homogeneous population and with a common tradition,
language, and sense of national history, the central governments may not be federal but unitary
— that is, they may retain most of the administrative power at the center. Loosely allied
autonomous states sometimes join together to create a type of central government known as a
confederation, in which the central government exists only at the pleasure of the sovereign
members.

Federal Systems  
The United States and India with their state governments and Canada and China with their
provincial governments are examples of workable federal systems in large nations with very
diverse populations. Other federal states include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria,
and Germany. The national governments of these countries are clearly more powerful than those
of their subdivisions, even though the constitutions delegate many powers and responsibilities to
the subnational units. In certain prescribed policy areas a state government may have a high
degree of autonomy. In the United States, for example, state legislatures pass laws having to do
with state affairs; state administrators carry them out; and state judiciaries interpret them.
Federal systems also include autonomous local governments such as county governments
and municipal governments — in cities, boroughs, townships, and villages local governments
may stand in a relationship to their state governments that corresponds to that of state
governments with the national government. The citizens in each jurisdiction elect many of the
public officials. In addition, certain special districts exist with a single function, such as
education or sanitation, and have their own elected officials.
The layers of government in a federal system may not be clearly defined in practice. Often the
different levels compete for control of functions and programs. In the United States and other
countries the tendency over the years has been for the national government to become much
more involved in areas that once were the exclusive domain of state or regional governments. In
addition, the distribution of authority has become even more complex and varied with the rise of
large metropolitan areas — the megalopolis — and the corresponding new local governmental
organizations such as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Unitary States 
In unitary states the national government performs all the governmental functions. Subnational
national units administer matters within their jurisdiction, but their powers are set and delegated
by the national authority. The national government retains the police power — the
inherent power to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens. Taxation and major
lawmaking powers also rest almost entirely with the national government.
Most nations are unitary states, but their institutions and processes may differ markedly. Great
Britain, for example, is considered a unitary system, yet a certain degree of regional autonomy
exists in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and local county governments perform certain
fairly autonomous functions. In France, however, strict control over the administrative territorial
subdivisions is exercised by the national government. In other unitary states there exists only
token territorial decentralization.

Confederations  
Confederation produces the weakest central government. Member states in a confederation retain
their sovereignty, delegating to the central government only those powers that are essential for its
maintenance. The individual states jealously guard their power to tax and to make their own
laws. The central government serves as a coordinating instrument to protect the interests of all its
members. It also represents the confederation in dealings with outside governments, but its
actions are subject to the review and approval of the confederated states.
The weakness of the confederate form of government led the United States to abandon that
system in 1789 after only eight years. Confederations, however, have also served other nations
— Germany and Switzerland, for example — as a preliminary step toward a more
unified government. No modern nation-state is organized along confederate lines, yet some
international organizations, such as the British Commonwealth of Nations, the European
Union (formerly the European Community), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, have
some aspects of a confederation.

Divisions of Government
Various political thinkers have distinguished types of government activity. Montesquieu was the
first, however, to urge the creation of three separate institutions or divisions of government—the
executive, legislative, and judicial — a distinction that became common in almost all modern
constitutions. Some governmental structures, notably that of the United States, are based on the
principle of separation of powers at nearly every level. Executive, legislative, and judicial
powers are divided into three branches of government, creating a system of checks and balances
among them and helping to protect citizens from arbitrary and capricious actions on the part of
any of the three branches. Such protection is crucial in the area of civil rights — those
constitutionally guaranteed rights that shield the citizen from tyrannical actions bygovernment.
Often, in times of grave national emergency, when the central government needs more power,
the public is willing to grant it. The executive branch usually predominates at such time.
Proponents of the separation of powers bring an additional argument in its favor: they point out
that the system diminishes the influence of special-interest groups over any one branch
of government or over the government as a whole. It is difficult for even the strongest faction to
dominate a government in which the executive is elected by the entire population, members of
the legislature represent different geographical constituencies, and the judges are appointed by
the executive with the approval of the legislature.
Not all states, of course, have such clear divisions of government, nor do divisions necessarily
guarantee personal liberties. Parliamentary democratic systems, for example, tend to merge
legislative and executive functions yet control the exercise of power by constitutional methods of
sharing it. Authoritarian states may, however, be constitutionally bound to have separate organs
of government yet actually concentrate power in the executive.

Functions of Government

Maintenance of Authority  
One of the principal functions of government is to remain in power. Governments do not
relinquish their authority unless compelled to do so. Many of the actions of politicians and civil
servants can be explained by the need to maintain and enhance their power.
Every government strives to increase its legitimacy in the eyes of the people. It may identify
itself with ancient traditions, with hope for the future, or with fear of a common enemy. Some
governments employ repression, never relaxing their vigils against real or imagined opponents.
Even democracies, when threatened, are likely to engage in a search for subversives and
"enemies of the people."
When a regime draws its main support from a privileged class or group that decreases in
numbers and strength, when a government becomes ineffective in handling domestic affairs or
countering external threats, or when a society's consensus on the principles and goals
of government evaporates, a government tends to lose authority. The French monarchy in the
18th century and the Russian monarchy in the 20th century were based on aristocracies that had
lost much of their legitimacy in the eyes of the people. Eventually these regimes were unable to
enforce their laws, and revolutions swept them from power.
Governments tend, therefore, to foster widespread ideological commitment to the nation through
patriotic ceremonies, propaganda, and civic education; they employ armed forces and
intelligence-gathering organizations for national defense; they maintain police and prison
systems to ensure domestic order; and they undertake the administration of supervisory and
regulatory functions to carry out national goals by establishing various bureaucracies to handle
each complex function.
Administration  
All governments recognize the principle that the public must be protected and served. The
citizen, in effect, surrenders a degree of individual sovereignty to the government in return for
protection of life and property and the delivery of essential services. Governments supervise the
resolution of conflicting interests, the workings of the political process, the enforcement of laws
and rights, and the monitoring of national income and international trade; they regulate economic
and social relationships among individuals and private organizations; and they carry out
enterprises such as production of military goods, provision of postal services, and ownership
of power utilities and public works. Among the most basic services provided by government are
the printing and coining of money, the provision of roads, sewers, water, education, and social
and welfare services.
With the growth of the welfare state, governments began to provide services such as social
security and health insurance. But the scope of government regulation is now much broader. In
the United States the government sets minimum wages, limits the rates charged by public
utilities, buys farm commodities to keep prices up, forbids the sale of harmful foods and drugs,
sets standards for gasoline consumption by automobiles, requires manufacturers to install
antipollution devices, and monitors the safety of factories. Federal, state, and local governments
in the United States also engage directly in economic activity. They impose taxes, produce and
consume goods, sell electric power, lend money to farmers, and insure bank deposits.
In other countries governments intrude even further into the workings of the economy. In
Western Europe governments own and operate telephone, radio, and television services,
railroads, coal mines, and aircraft companies. In some countries, such as Sweden and Great
Britain, the entire health system is also run by the state. In countries with Communist
governments, such as the former USSR, North Korea, China, and Cuba, the state has attempted
to control the entire economic life of the nation. All economic planning is centralized in
the government and its bureaucracies. When the system fails to produce the goods and services
expected by the people, the government is forced to increase the level of repression of its citizens
in order to remain in power.

Internal Conflicts
The end of the cold war and the loss of control by the superpowers over international events have
led to a different type of stress on many governments. The threats to their sovereignty are no
longer external. Many nations, especially those artificially carved out of old empires that expired
during both World Wars, are finding that the arbitrary power that maintained the central
governments is no longer sufficient for the task. The communication revolution, through radio
and the satellite transmission of television, has truly created a "global village." Citizens no longer
live in isolation. They demand the rights and privileges enjoyed by others.
Another kind of demand governments must try to meet comes from ethnic and religious groups
that in some cases seek autonomy from the government. Some of these conflicts result in
attempts at genocide, and the rest of the world appears powerless to intervene. These problems
are not limited to Third World countries. NATO has revised its original purpose of preventing an
invasion of western Europe to a strategy of maintaining smaller mobile forces to prevent the
internal breakup of nations. But these internal conflicts continue to have the potential to produce
anarchy and chaos, threatening entire regions.
International Government
In modern times national governments have become increasingly involved with one another in
supranational systems. The League of Nations, established in 1919, grew to include more than 90
members. It collapsed in World War II but was succeeded by the United Nations (UN). The UN,
like the League, is a voluntary association generally without power to act unless the five
permanent members of the Security Council agree. It has, however, served as a forum for
international debate and a convenient meeting ground for negotiations. The UN has also
committed military forces of member nations in an attempt to limit the scope of conflicts that
cannot be solved by national governments. UN forces have suffered casualties in some of these
conflicts. The United Nations is now an international government in both theory and reality, and
the organization will continue to face many serious challenges in many parts of the world.
Associated with the UN are a number of specialized organizations that perform important
governmental functions. They include the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International
Atomic Energy Agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Court of
Justice (World Court), the International Labor Organization, the International Monetary Fund,
the World Health Organization, and the International Telecommunication Union.
The specialized agencies have enabled national governments to cooperate in many practical
matters such as setting standards, extending technical and financial assistance to developing
countries, eliminating or controlling epidemic diseases, and establishing an international
monetary system.
Regional associations of nations have usually existed in a loose confederation for national
security purposes or for vaguely defined geographical and political purposes. The European
Union of 15 member nations has taken the concept of regional association to a much higher
level. It has moved to create a political union among sovereign states, and its Common Market
constitutes one of the major economies of the world.