Who Rules?

Someone's Got to Be In Charge If you compared all the governments in the world, you would find one thing in common: Someone is in charge. The question is, who? There are many different forms of government. Some have one leader who as all the control. Others give power to the people. Here are some forms of government that exist in the world. Me, Myself, and I An autocracy is a government in which one person has all the power. There are two main types of autocracy; a dictator or an absolute monarchyA dictatorship is a form of government where one leader has absolute control over citizens' lives. A dictator takes over by military force or police power. Although other parts of the government may exist, such as courts or a lawmaking body, these branches always do what the dictator wants them to do. They do not represent the citizens.In an absolute monarchy, a king or queen rules the country. The king or queen is know as a monarch. Monarchs usually come to power through their family line: The current king or queen's oldest child becomes the next king or queen. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen has absolute power over all the people in their country and any decisions made in regards to how the country is run.In modern times, monarchs usually share power with other parts of government. Often they are also subject to the country's constitution, a set of rules of how a country is run. An example is the parliament of the United Kingdom. It allows citizens to elect representatives to be their voice in government. This type of government is referred to as a constitutional monarchy. The United Kingdom is considered both a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. After reading the passage, match the following terms to their definitions. Autocracy a government in which one person as all the power an absolute monarchy a king or queen who rules the country with all control monarch a king or queen constitution a formal document of rules or laws for how a country is govern (run) dictatorship a form a government where one leader has absolute control over citizens' lives constitutional monarchy king or queen but includes laws that must be followed DEMOCRACIES: PRESIDENTIAL, PARLIAMENTARY OR BOTH Place description in the appropriate category. Does it describe a parliamentary democracy, presidential democracy, or does it describe both? Parliamentary Democracy chief executive is typically titled prime minister citizens vote directly for legislative branch legislative branch (law-making body) chooses for chief executive Chief executive is a member of the legislative branch Presidential Democracy citizens vote directly for the chief executive citizens vote directly for the legislative branch (law-making body) chief executive does not make the laws citizens vote in two separate elections: one for executive branch and one for legislative branch(law-making body) The chief executive is separate from the legislative branch citizens elect the executive and the legislative branches BOTH citizens elect lawmakers chief executive(leader) heads the military citizens hold the power through many ways of civic duties including voting the legislative branch is bicameral Statement True or False A monarchy can be like a dictatorship or it can be part of a democracy. True In a presidential democracy, the chief executive is a member of the legislative branch. False An absolute monarchy is an example of a democratic government. False In both a presidential and parliamentary democracy, citizens have high participation. True In a presidential democracy, citizens vote in two separate elections. One for chief executive and the other for members of the legislative branch. True The branch of government in both parliamentary and presidential democracy is the legislative branch. True