Form of Government

A monarchy, from the Greek μονος, "one," and αρχειν, "to rule," is a form of government in which a monarch, usually a single person, is the head of state. Monarchy is when a king, queen, or emperor that rule the country. Monarchy is one of the oldest types of government and has been in continuous existence for most of recorded history. In most monarchies, the monarch holds their position for life and passes the responsibilities and power of the position to their children or family when they...

A constitution is a system for governance, often codified as a written document, that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political principles, and establishing the structure, procedures, power and duties, of a government. Most national constitutions also guarantee certain right to the people. Historically, before the evolution of modern-style, codified...

A republic is a state or country that is not led by a hereditary monarch, where the people of that state or country (or at least a part of that people) have impact on its government, and that is usually indicated as a republic. The detailed organization of republics' governments can vary widely. The first section of this article gives an overview of the distinctions that characterise different types of non-fictional republics. The second section of the article gives short profiles of some of...

The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony of British North America from 1858 until 1871. It was largely coterminous with the present day Canadian province of British Columbia. It was united in 1866 with the Colony of Vancouver Island to form a further colonial entity named British Columbia, but unofficially known as the United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia to avoid confusion. Main Article: History of British Columbia The explorations of James Cook and George...

Democracy is a system of government by which political sovereignty is retained by the people and either exercised directly by citizens or through their elected representatives. It is derived by from the Greek δημοκρατία , "popular government" which was coined from δήμος (dēmos), "people" and κράτος (kratos), "rule, strength" in the middle of the 5th century BC to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens. In political theory, democracy describes a...

A constitutional monarchy, or a limited monarchy, is a form of constitution government, wherein either an elected or an hereditary monarch is the head of state, unlike in an absolute monarchy, wherein the king or the queen is the sole source of political power, as he or she is not legally bound by the national constitution. The constitutional monarchy's government and its law are the government and the law of a limited monarchy. Most constitutional monarchies are parliament (UK, Australia,...

A presidential system, also called a congressional system, is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides (hence the term) separately from the legislature, to which it is not accountable and which cannot in normal circumstances dismiss it. It owes its origins to the medieval monarchies of France, England and Scotland in which executive authority was vested in the Crown, not in meetings of the estates of the realm (ie. parliament): the Estates-General of France, the...

Anarchy (from anarchía, "without ruler") may refer to any of the following: It should be noted that "ruler," if used in the context of the third bullet point, has no explicit connection to the term "rules." In an anarchy, as defined by the last bullet point, it is possible to have rules (laws), however, these must be agreed upon by the participants in the system, and not imposed from above, by a ruler (leader, authority). Some languages, such as Norwegian have two separate words for the two...

Socialist Republic is a nominal republic governed on the principles of socialism usually by a communist or a socialist party. They are usually focused on a centrally planned economy, but sometimes they mix their economy with elements of a free market In the west, such countries are sometimes called socialist or communist state to stress the fact that they are usually ruled by a single party. See: List of Socialist Republics

In ancient times, India, Greece, and Rome had governments similar to constitutional democracies. In the Middle Ages, much of Europe was ruled by monarchies. The form of government grew again in the United States following the signing of the Constitution in 1789. The government was divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Since the ancient democracies of Greece and Rome did not have universal suffrage they are often regarded as the pre-cursor to modern democracies,...