Vaibhav Consti 2 Project.docx

DR. RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY 2016-2017

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW –II

FINAL DRAFT

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GOVERNMENTS SUBMITTED BY:

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

VAIBHAV VERMA

MS. ANKITA YADAV

ROLL NO: 181

ASST. PROFF.(LAW)

SECTION ‘B’

Dr.RMLNLU.

B.A. LLB (Hons.), SEMESTER IV 1|Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take great pleasure in thanking my CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-II professor, MS. ANKITA YADAV for her infallible support all through the course of this project. This endeavor would not have been in its present shape had she not been there whenever I needed her. She has been a constant source of support all the while. Also I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the library staff for always helping me out with finding excellent books and material almost every time I needed. They too have been a constant support system in the completion of this project. Last but surely not the least- I would like to thank my friends for their timely critical analysis of my work and special feedback that worked towards the betterment of this work.

-VAIBHAV VERMA

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TABLE OF CONTENT

1)INTRODUCTION 2) DIFFERENT TYPES OF GOVERNMENT 3)DEMOCRACY 4)CHARACTERISTICS OF DEMOCRACY 5)AUTOCRACY 6)TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP 7)CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY 8)MONARCHY 9)THEOCRACY 10)OLIGARCHY 11)CONCLUSION 12)BIBLIOGRAPHY

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INTRODUCTION

A government is the system by which a state or community is controlled. In the Commonwealth of Nations, the word government is also used more narrowly to refer to the collective group of people that exercises executive authority in a state. This usage is analogous to what is called an "administration" in American English. Furthermore, especially in American English, the concepts of the state and the government may be used synonymously to refer to the person or group of people exercising authority over a politically organized territory. Finally, government is also sometimes used in English as a synonym for governance. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislators, administrators, and arbitrators. Government is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state. A form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political systems and institutions that make up the organisation of a specific government. Government of any kind currently affects every human activity in many important ways. For this reason, political scientists generally argue that government should not be studied by itself; but should be studied along with anthropology, economics, environmentalism, history, philosophy, science, and sociology. • Government is a system of social control under which the right to make laws, and the right to enforce them, is given to a particular group in society.1 • Government power can be held by one individual, a select few, or a majority. • Modern government have many jobs, such as: • Providing national security • Keeping order • Establishing a justice system

1

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/forms-government/

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• Welfare services for those in need • Regulating the economy • Educational systems

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GOVERNMENT

1)DEMOCRACY: Democracy, in modern usage, is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power directly or elect representatives from among themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament. Democracy is sometimes referred to as "rule of the majority". Democracy

was

originally conceived

in Classical

Greece,

where

political

representatives were chosen by a jury from amongst the male citizens: rich and poor. The English word dates to the 16th century, from the older Middle French and Middle Latin equivalents. According to political scientist Larry Diamond, democracy consists of four key elements: (a) A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections; (b) The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life; (c) Protection of the human rights of all citizens, and (d) A rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens. In the 5th century BC, to denote the political systems then existing in Greek city-states, notably Athens, the term is an antonym to aristocracy, meaning "rule of an elite". While theoretically these definitions are in opposition, in practice the distinction has been blurred historically.[4] The political system of Classical Athens, for example, granted democratic citizenship to free men and excluded slaves and women from political participation. In 1906, Finland became the first government to harald a more inclusive democracy at the national level.

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2

In virtually all democratic governments throughout ancient and modern history, democratic

citizenship consisted of an elite class until full enfranchisement was won for all adult citizens in most modern democracies through the suffrage movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. Democracy contrasts with forms of government where power is either held by an individual, as in an absolute monarchy, or where power is held by a small number of individuals, as in an oligarchy. Nevertheless, these oppositions, inherited from Greek philosophy, are now ambiguous because contemporary governments have mixed democratic, oligarchic, and monarchic elements. Karl Popper defined democracy in contrast to dictatorship or tyranny, thus focusing on opportunities for the people to control their leaders and to oust them without the need for a revolution.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DEMOCRACY No consensus exists on how to define democracy, but legal equality, political freedom and rule of law have been identified as important characteristics. These principles are reflected in all eligible citizens being equal before the law and having equal access to legislative processes. For example, in a representative democracy, every vote has equal weight, no unreasonable restrictions can apply to anyone seeking to become a representative, and the freedom of its eligible citizens is secured by legitimised rights and liberties which are typically protected by a constitution. Other uses of "democracy" include that of direct democracy. One theory holds that democracy requires three fundamental principles: (1) upward control, i.e. sovereignty residing at the lowest levels of authority, (2) political equality, and (3) social norms by which individuals and institutions only consider acceptable acts that reflect the first two principles of upward control and political equality. The term "democracy" is sometimes used as shorthand for liberal democracy, which is a variant of representative democracy that may include elements such as political pluralism; equality before the law; the right to petition elected officials for redress of grievances; due process; civil liberties; human

2

rights;

and

elements

of civil

society outside

the

government. Roger

http://www.charleston.k12.il.us/cms/Teachers/TeamRed/SS/TypesGovernmentEconomicSystems.PDF

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Scruton argues that democracy alone cannot provide personal and political freedom unless the institutions of civil society are also present. In some countries, notably in the United Kingdom which originated the Westminster system, the dominant

principle

is

that

of parliamentary

sovereignty,

while

maintaining judicial

independence. In the United States, separation of powers is often cited as a central attribute. In India, parliamentary sovereignty is subject to the Constitution of India which includes judicial review. Though the term "democracy" is typically used in the context of a political state, the principles also are applicable to private organisations. Majority rule is often listed as a characteristic of democracy. Hence, democracy allows for political minorities to be oppressed by the "tyranny of the majority" in the absence of legal protections of individual or group rights. An essential part of an "ideal" representative democracy

is

competitive elections that

are

substantively

and

procedurally

"fair,"

i.e., just and equitable. In some countries, freedom of political expression, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and internet democracy are considered important to ensure that voters are well informed, enabling them to vote according to their own interests. It has also been suggested that a basic feature of democracy is the capacity of all voters to participate freely and fully in the life of their society. With its emphasis on notions of social contract and the collective will of all the voters, democracy can also be characterised as a form of political collectivism because it is defined as a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in lawmaking. While representative democracy is sometimes equated with the republican form of government, the term "republic" classically has encompassed both democracies and aristocracies. Many democracies are constitutional monarchies, such as the United Kingdom.3

3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

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2)AUTOCRACY Autocracy is “rule by one.” In an autocratic government, one person -- the autocrat -- has all the power and makes all the decisions. There are no laws or constitution that restrain the authority of the autocrat. The people who are governed have no processes, such as elections, through which they can express their desires for how their government operates. The advantages of an autocratic government are that decisions can be made and implemented quickly. However, individual rights are usually ignored and power is often maintained by force. Some autocracies are theocratic governments, in which the ruler claims to have been put in power by a deity.

TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP: Totalitarianism is a political system in which the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.[1] A distinctive feature of totalitarian governments is an "elaborate ideology, a set of ideas that gives meaning and direction to the whole society". The concept of totalitarianism was first developed in the 1920s by the Weimar German jurist, and later Nazi academic, Carl Schmitt, and Italian fascists. Schmitt used the term, Totalstaat, in his influential work on the legal basis of an all-powerful state, The Concept of the Political (1927). The concept became prominent in Western political discourse as a concept that highlights similarities between Fascist states and the Soviet Union.

CONSTITUTIONAL

MONARCHY:

A form

of

government in

which

the sovereign exercises their authorities in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution. Constitutional monarchy differs from absolute monarchy (in which a monarch holds absolute power), in that constitutional monarchs are bound to exercise their powers and authorities within the limits prescribed within an established legal framework. Constitutional monarchies range from countries such as Morocco, where the constitution grants substantial discretionary powers to the sovereign, to countries such as Sweden or Denmark where the monarch retains very few formal authorities.

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A constitutional monarchy may refer to a system in which the monarch acts as a non-party political head of state under the constitution, whether written or unwritten. While most monarchs may hold formal authority and the government may legally operate in the monarch's name, in the form typical in Europe the monarch no longer personally sets public policy or chooses political leaders. Political scientist Vernon Bogdanor, paraphrasing Thomas Macaulay, has defined a constitutional monarch as "a sovereign who reigns but does not rule". In addition to acting as a visible symbol of national unity, a constitutional monarch may hold formal powers such as dissolving parliament or giving royal assent to legislation. However, the exercise of such powers is largely strictly in accordance with either written constitutional principles or unwritten constitutional conventions, rather than any personal political preference imposed by the sovereign. In The English Constitution, British political theorist Walter Bagehot identified three main political rights which a constitutional monarch may freely exercise: the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn. Many constitutional monarchies still retain significant authorities or political influence however, such as through certain reserve powers, and may also play an important political role. The United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms are all constitutional monarchies in the Westminster tradition of constitutional governance. Three states – Malaysia, Cambodia and the Holy See – are elective monarchies, wherein the ruler is periodically selected by a small electoral college.

MONARCHY: A monarchy is a form of government in which a group, usually a family called the dynasty, embodies the country's national identity and one of its members, called the monarch, exercises a role of sovereignty. The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic (crowned republic), to partial and restricted (constitutional monarchy), to completely autocratic (absolute monarchy). Traditionally and in most cases, the monarch's post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, but there are also elective monarchies where the monarch is elected. Each of these has variations: in some elected monarchies only those of certain pedigrees are, whereas many hereditary monarchies impose requirements regarding the 9|Page

religion, age, gender, mental capacity, etc. Occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a monarch's reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved: an invasion being repulsed, for instance. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy. Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Where it exists, it is now usually a constitutional monarchy, in which the monarch retains a unique legal and ceremonial role, but exercises limited or no official political power: under the written or unwritten constitution, others have governing authority. Currently, 47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state, 19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognize

Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state.

All European monarchies are constitutional ones, with the exception of the Vatican City which is an elective monarchy, but sovereigns in the smaller states exercise greater political influence than in the larger. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia "reign, but do not rule" although there is considerable variation in the degree of authority they wield. Although they reign

under

constitutions,

the

monarchs

of Brunei, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi

Arabia and Swaziland appear to continue to exercise more political influence than any other single source of authority in their nations, either by constitutional mandate or by tradition.4

3)THEOCRACY: Theocracy is a form of government in which a deity is the source from which all authority derives. The Oxford English Dictionary has this definition: 1. a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god. 1.1. the commonwealth of Israel from the time of Moses until the election of Saul as King. An ecclesiocracy is a situation where the religious leaders assume a leading role in the state, but do not claim that they are instruments of divine revelation. For example, the prince-bishops of the European Middle Ages, where the bishop was also the temporal ruler. Such a state may use

4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy

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the administrative hierarchy of the religion for its own administration, or it may have two 'arms'—administrators and clergy—but with the state administrative hierarchy subordinate to the religious hierarchy. The papacy in the Papal States occupied a middle ground between theocracy and ecclesiocracy, since the pope did not claim he was a prophet who received revelation from God and translated it into civil law. Religiously endorsed monarchies fall between theocracy and ecclesiocracy, according to the relative strengths of the religious and political organs. Most forms of theocracy are oligarchic in nature, involving rule of the many by the few, some of whom so anointed under claim of divine commission.5

4)OLIGARCHY: is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people might be distinguished by nobility, wealth, family ties, education or corporate, religious or military control. Such states are often controlled by a few prominent families who typically pass their influence from one generation to the next, but inheritance is not a necessary condition for the application of this term. Throughout history, oligarchies have often been tyrannical, relying on public obedience or oppression to exist. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich,[4] for which another term commonly used today is plutocracy. Especially during the fourth century BC, after the restoration of democracy from oligarchical coups, the Athenians used the drawing of lots for selecting government officers in order to counteract what the Athenians saw as a tendency toward oligarchy in government if a professional governing class were allowed to use their skills for their own benefit. They drew lots from large groups of adult volunteers that pick selection technique for civil servants performing judicial, executive, and administrative functions. They even used lots for posts, such as judges and jurors in the political courts, which had the power to overrule the Assembly. 6

5 6

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theocracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy

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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.

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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 (see income, national) 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. 13 | P a g e

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.7

7

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/forms-government/

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CONCLUSION Government is not reason, it is not eloquence – it is a force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. This process describes what has happened to governments all over the world, and which has especially accelerated since the 2008 financial crisis, as the ruling class of the military/industrial complex have formed a cabal with bankers and politicians to manage the global economy for their own benefit with no regard whatsoever for the remaining 95% of the people. Our illusion of democracy, the rule of the people by the people, has been shattered… encouraged by the rapid spread of information throughout the Internet and instant communication systems. Developments in technology have brought many advantages and benefits to the masses but at the same time have exposed the dark secrets of government as never before. One of the major secrets to be revealed is how governments are financed and how they interact with other connected parties in their management of taxpayers’ money. Shop Squawk will follow the pattern set in previous lessons by briefly examining the history of our government system. Many will already know that our democratic system was derived from the Greeks, particularly the Athenians, who developed techniques to prevent the rise of *oligarchy.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 1) WIKIPEDIA.ORG 2) SCHOLASTIC.COM 3) FREEMANUALSINDEX.COM 4) https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teachingcontent/forms-government/ 5) STUDY.COM/ACADEMY/ 6)RATIONALWIKI.ORG

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