COMPARING FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
SS.7.C.3.1 Compare different forms of government (direct democracy, representative democracy, socialism, communism, monarchy, oligarchy, autocracy).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lesson Summary………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
Essential Content Background……………………………………………………………………………. 3
Civics Content Vocabulary…………………………………………………………………………………... 13
Suggested Student Activity Sequence…………………………………………………………………... 14
Student Activity Resources/Handouts………………………………………………………………… 16
Sources………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 26
Answer Keys……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 27
Lesson Summary
Essential Questions
What are forms of government? How do they compare to each other?
NGSSS Benchmark
SS.7.C.3.1 Compare different forms of government (direct democracy, representative democracy, socialism, communism, monarchy, oligarchy, autocracy).
Florida Standards
LAFS.68.RH.2.4 LAFS.68.WHST.3.8 LAFS.68.WHST.3.9 LAFS.68.WHST.4.10
LAFS.7.SL.1.1 LAFS.7.SL.1.2 LAFS.7.SL.2.4 MAFS.K12.MP.6.1
Organization and Function of Government | SS.7.C.3.1 – Updated 7/15 | 29
Overview
In this lesson, students will define and compare forms of government.
Learning Goals/Benchmark Clarifications
· Students will identify different forms of government based on its political philosophy or organizational structure.
· Students will analyze scenarios describing various forms of government.
· Students will apply their understanding of the definitions of the various forms of government.
Benchmark Content Limits
· Items will not ask students to identify specific countries by a form of government.
· Items will not require students to evaluate the efficacy of different forms of government.
Civics EOC Reporting Category
Reporting Category 4 – Organization and Function of Government
Suggested Time Frame
· One 45-50 minute class period
Civics Content Vocabulary
Organization and Function of Government | SS.7.C.3.1 – Updated 7/15 | 29
· absolute monarchy, anarchy, autocracy, communism, democracy, dictatorship, direct democracy, form of government, monarchy, oligarchy, representative democracy, republic, socialism
Organization and Function of Government | SS.7.C.3.1 – Updated 7/15 | 29
Instructional Strategies
Organization and Function of Government | SS.7.C.3.1 – Updated 7/15 | 29
· Collaborative learning
· Context Clues
· Presentation skills
Organization and Function of Government | SS.7.C.3.1 – Updated 7/15 | 29
Organization and Function of Government | SS.7.C.3.1 – Updated 7/15 | 29
Materials
A projector to display the Forms of Government Scenarios
Student activity sheets:
· Presentation Notes
· Forms of Government Definitions
Student reading materials:
· Forms of Government
Organization and Function of Government | SS.7.C.3.1 – Updated 7/15 | 29
Essential Content Background
This section addresses the following issues:1. Forms of government explained
2. Forms of government in detail
3. Forms of government with country examples (graphic)
1. Forms of government explained
There are multiple factors that contribute to how we understand governments. One approach is to consider the form of government which is also understood as the structure of government. All governments, no matter their structure (or form) enjoy three powers: the power to create laws (legislative), the power to enforce laws (executive) and the power to adjudicate laws (judicial). The way that those powers are organized determines the form of government. In the United States, for example, the U.S. Constitution begins with “we the people” which speaks to the notion that the U.S. is a democracy. However, as the U.S. Constitution outlines a system of representation through which the people rule, it is known as a republic, or a representative democracy.
Several factors impact the form of government that a nation will adopt; these include, but are not limited to the nation’s history, culture, values, beliefs, political participation, geography, location, international relations, domestic concerns and past practices.
2. Forms of government in detail
AUTOCRACYDefinition: Autocracy is a form of government where one person has unlimited power.
Also known as/ related to: One form of an autocracy is a dictatorship where a military leader secures power often through violent means. Another form of autocracy is an absolute monarchy where a person becomes the sole leader of a country by being born into a family of rulers. Birth order and gender often determine who becomes a ruler in a monarchy, including an absolute monarchy.
Explanation: A dictatorship is a government headed by a dictator.
Originally a military office, the dictator had absolute power, but for a limited time.
In the twentieth century, the term dictatorship has come to mean a government in which absolute power is concentrated in the hands of a dictator and sometimes his closest associates. Many dictators have held the formal title of "President", but they often hold unlimited, often non-constitutional powers.
Dictators can come to power in a variety of ways. They can be elected, be appointed by the ruling party, or inherit their position. Still other modern dictators take power using violence and are supported by the military.
The dictator generally controls the three government powers: legislative, executive and judicial.
In a dictatorship, there are no elections. Sometimes dictators can first obtain power from democratic elections, but shortly after being elected the dictator will ban all opposing parties and cancel all future elections. Though free elections will never occur under a dictatorship, sometimes dictators arrange for phony elections in an attempt to grant themselves the appearance of democracy and public support.
For most of history dictatorship has been the most common form of rule. In early European history power was held by a variety of absolute monarchs who ruled their kingdoms with mostly unlimited powers. As the years went on, support for the people ruling themselves, and the rule of law, began to spread, and so too did the rise of constitutions and democracy. Monarchs lost most of their powers to elected legislature and in some cases were ended altogether, and replaced by republics.
In the 20th Century two World Wars were fought to prevent the rapid territorial expansion of dictatorships. Most of those who started World War One were the few remaining absolute monarchs of Europe, while in World War Two the villains were the elected dictators of Germany and Italy.
When World War Two ended, there was a widespread "dumping" of former European colonies in Asia and Africa. In many cases independence was granted to these territories before it should have been, and many of these new nations quickly collapsed into a military dictatorship. The post-WW2 Cold War between the dictatorship of the Soviet Union and the United States of America also greatly affected global dictatorships, with many of the world's dictators able to combine their hold on power by respecting the interests of the U.S. and the Soviet Union. When the Cold War ended, many dictatorships (including the Soviet Union itself) quickly collapsed and were replaced by democratic governments.
Today, dictatorship has reached a global low. South and Latin America, which were once largely controlled by the rule of the military are now largely free and democratic, as well. Dictatorships remain in certain regions of Africa, Asia, and most of the Middle East. A new global commitment to human rights has also helped force many dictators out of favor, and prevent the rise of new ones. Today, dictators and dictatorship members are often held accountable for their acts, such as through the United Nations.
Source: Adapted from “Dictatorship” available at: http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/di/Dictatorship
COMMUNISM
Definition: Communism is a theory and system of social and political organization that played a big role in the history of the 20th century.
Also known as/ related to: Socialism
Explanation: Communism is a classless society (no social classes) in which all property is owned by the community as a whole and where all people are entitled to equal social and economic status. As a political movement, communism is intended to overthrow capitalism (property based economy protected by the government) through a workers’ revolution and redistribute the wealth in the hands of the working class.
Communist ideas have existed since ancient times. Primitive humans, living in tribes, worked for the benefit of their entire clan and shared the fruits of their labor.
Many great thinkers have supported advanced Communist ideas. In his 4th-century BC work The Republic, the Greek philosopher Plato proposed the communal ownership of property by an intellectual ruling class, to put the welfare of the state above personal desire and moderate the greed of the producing classes.
The idea floated around during the Enlightenment and influenced many philosophers. The greatest amount was on Rousseau, who was to have the greatest influence on the French Revolution.
The ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, found in their Communist Manifesto, changed communism into a revolutionary movement. Marx and Engels claimed Communism did not have to occur in isolated communities, but globally. According to the Manifesto all history can be explained in terms of class struggles. In each society, a minority of people owned or controlled the means (method) of production, made up by the ruling class. Most people owned and controlled very little.
At the current stage of capitalism the capitalists who controlled the means of production took advantage of the industrial workers by paying low wages and keeping the profits to themselves. In other words, workers had to work to meet their own needs and those of the ruling class taking advantage of them. Marx thought it was only a matter of time before the working classes of the world, realizing their common goals, would unite to take control from the capitalists and redistribute the wealth. The establishment of communism would be the inevitable outcome of a historical process.
According to Marx, capitalism would become socialism then eventually to communism.
Communism is sometimes also used to mean, particularly in capitalist nations, an autocratic government run by the Communist Party, where central planning is used as a means of production and distribution. Because these types of governments have often committed human rights abuses, some regard this idea of Communism as dangerous.
Marxists disagree with this approach because Marxist communism refers to the ideal stateless (no government), propertyless, and classless society with no abuse of workers and a focus on freedom. Society runs based on this view:
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”
Many nations in the 20th century were run by such Communist Parties, who identified themselves as true communists and tried to govern themselves according to their view of Marxist principles.
Source: Adapted from “Communism” available at: http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/co/Communism
DIRECT DEMOCRACY
Definition: Direct democracy is rule by the people where the people make the laws.
Explanation: Democracy means the rule by the people. That is where each individual person has a vote about what to do. Whatever the most people vote for becomes the law. There is no king or tyrant, and anybody can propose a new law.
Direct democracy is a phrase that represents decisions where citizens pass laws directly, without using representatives. The best known way that direct democracy is practiced is the “initiative”, which allows citizens to place proposals on the ballot that become law if a majority of the electorate votes in favor. The referendum is a form of initiative where voters may accept or reject proposals/laws made by their representatives but does not permit citizens to make their own proposals.
One problem that comes up in a direct democracy is determining who is going to be able to vote. It was much easier to allow fewer people to vote because fewer had to be taken from their regular work to vote. However, the less people that were allowed to vote, the less that the principle of “rule by the people” was practiced.
The earliest direct democracy in the world began in Athens, Greece in 510 BC which allowed only men to vote. When democracy proved to be successful in Athens, many other city-states (cities that also served the role of nations) chose it for their government too. But most of them allowed even fewer people to vote than Athens did: most of the other city-states only allowed free adult male citizens to vote if they owned land or owned their own houses (that is, the richer people).
Another problem for direct democracies was that it was not easy for men to always be going to the meeting-place to vote. Most men had work to do such as planting their grain, making shoes, fighting wars or doing other types of work. They couldn't be always voting. So most democracies sooner or later ended up choosing a few men who would do most of the voting, and the rest only came when there was a really important vote. It was hard to decide how to choose these few men, and different cultures did it different ways. Athens did it by a lottery where every man had an equal chance to be chosen at random to vote. Those men who were chosen served for one year.
Direct democracy spread around the Mediterranean (referring to the countries of Europe that bordered the Mediterranean Sea) but it was pretty much wiped out by the Roman Empire about 100 BC. Still, places like Athens continued to use direct democracy to make their own decisions on local matters for a long time after that.
A thousand years later, in the Middle Ages, some cities went back to having a democratic government. These were all organized in slightly different ways, but none of them allowed the poor or women to vote, and some had a lottery system like Athens.
Sources: Adapted from “Democracy” available at: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/government/democracy.htm and
“Direct Democracy” in The Encyclopedia of Public Choice available at: http://www.credoreference.com.ezproxy.lib.ucf.edu/entry/sprpubchoice/direct_democracy
MONARCHY
Definition: Monarchy is a form of government in which power is held by a single person whose right to rule is based on birth and who has the power to remain in office for life.
Explanation: Monarchy is a form of government in which power is held by a single person whose right to rule is based on birth (that person is born into a family of kings and queens) and who has the power to remain in office for life. The power of this sovereign may vary; there are absolute monarchies (a type of autocracy) and constitutional monarchies, where the monarch is strongly limited by a constitution that outlines a rule of law. Monarchy has existed since about 3000 BC and was often established during periods of threat or crisis because it provided an efficient focus of power.
In most countries with monarchies, the monarch serves as a symbol of strength and statehood. Many countries have strong rules against the monarch becoming involved in partisan politics. In some cases, the symbolism of monarchy along with the symbolism of a republic cause the combination to be divisive. For example, there is the case of Australia where the question of keeping a monarch as head of state touches on divisive and debated questions of national identity.