Little Known Forms Of Government
Ferdinand Marcos The world has had many different types of governments throughout history. To me, one of the most interesting is Kleptocracy, or better known as the rule of the thieves. All this really refers to is a government that is embezzling funds or using the treasury of that country as their own personal bank account. This has happened recently, relatively speaking, by the heads of government in Indonesia, Nigeria and the Philippines. Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. His was one of the most corrupt regimes at the time. He was responsible for all types of corruption including, despotism, nepotism and just outright thievery. He was even thought to have been responsible for the death of his main political opponent, Benigno Aquino Jr. When he was removed from office in 1986, he took billions of dollars from the Philippine treasury with him. His wife Imelda was famous for having the largest collection of shoes in the world. Another form of government is Minarchism. This form of government recognizes the protection of an individual’s life and his liberty to be the only functions that a government should have. As you can see we believe in far more functions for the government. This type of government will protect its citizens from harm, but will not do anything else for them. The only institutions in this type of state, that is also known as a night watchman state, would be the police, prisons and military. The government would be so minimal that its powers can not be reduced any further.
Lenin Kratocracy is a word that comes from the Greek and means strong. A kratocracy is a government by those who are strong enough to seize and run it. We have certainly seen enough examples of this throughout history. The Bolsheviks were successful in 1917 when they seized power from the Czar and the Provisional government in Russia. The Royal family was executed, the Russians withdrew from the war. The peasants in Russia tried to claim their land from the Provisional government and that government, which was led by Alexander Kerensky, tried to stop them. This made the Provisional government very unpopular. This helped the Bolsheviks by swelling their ranks. One form of government is known as a confederation. That is when a group of sovereign states get together, usually by treaty, and form common institutions. No new state is formed, but the member states agree to cooperate as one. Once a treaty like this is accepted, it can only be changed by unanimous agreement. Many times this confederation of states will adopt a common constitution. It can even form a common central government. Some people think that Canada is a confederation and that New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada are the member states, but the truth is Canada is a federation. Switzerland is a confederation and is officially known as the Swiss Confederation. It was formed in 1291, so I guess we would have to conclude that it is a successful confederation. Another famous confederation is the Iroquois Confederacy. It is also known as the League of Peace and Power, the Five Nations and the Six Nations. A less know name is the People of the Longhouse. It is composed of the following native American peoples: Since I mentioned a federation above, I though it prudent to explain what this is. It is a union of partially self governing states or regions that is run by a central government. Does this sound familiar? It should, if you are a citizen of the United States, you are living in a federation. Usually a federation’s states possess no powers in foreign policy and have no status individually under international law. For example the state of New Jersey would not be recognized as a sovereign country under international law and it shouldn’t be, since it it only one state out of many that are part of the whole that make up the country, or federation. There can be a twist to this, where some states of a federation entered the federation under different terms such as Malaysia where Sarawak and Sabah entered the federation under different term than Peninsular and Malaysia Provence.
Robespierre Helped Start The Reign Of Terror Oligarchy is a form of government where a small elite segment, usually composed of the rich and powerful, some of who might have been nobles in older days, run a society. They could also be military and even members of the religious. It is interesting to note that the word Oligarchy comes from the Greek and means the few and rule. The First French Republic was an oligarchy. A committee on Public Safety was started and that committee instituted the infamous Reign of Terror in France. The guillotine fell on thousand of necks and in many cases it was a time to get even with people for private grievances. There was not much checking into guilt or innocence. A few people were bringing down a reign of terror on the heads of the many. Many of us have heard the term republic, but how many of us know exactly what a republic is? A republic is a state that is not run by royalty and where the people have at least some say in their government. Some republics have an executive department, or branch, that was created in a constitution by the people. In this country our republic is sometimes described as a representative democracy. In 509 B.C. the Romans overthrew their monarchy and for about 450 years lived under a republic, until this form of government was subverted and the country became an imperial country. There are so many more forms of government that I could fill a book with them. Here are the names of just a few: |
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