For government in linguistics see Government (linguistics).

In the social sciences the term government refers to the legislators administrators and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time and to the system of government by which they are organized.12 Government is the means by which state policy is enforced as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state.

States are served by a continuous succession of different governments.3 Each successive government is composed of a specialized and privileged body of individuals who monopolize political decision-making and are separated by status and organization from the population as a whole. Their function is to enforce existing laws legislate new ones and arbitrate conflicts via the government's monopoly on violence. In some societies this group is often a self-perpetuating or hereditary class. In other societies such as democracies the political roles remain but there is frequent turnover of the people actually filling the positions.4

In most Western societies there is a clear distinction between a government and the state. Public disapproval of a particular government (expressed for example by not re-electing an incumbent) does not necessarily represent disapproval of the state itself (i.e. of the particular framework of government). However some in some totalitarian regimes there is not a clear distinction between the regime and the state. In fact leaders in such regimes often attempt to deliberately blur the lines between to two in order to conflate their own selfish interests with those of the polity.5 Contents 1 Types of governments 2 See also 3 References 4 Further reading Types of governments Main article: Form of government States by their systems of government as of April 2006.   presidential republics full presidential system   presidential republics parliament supervising an executive presidency   presidential republics semi-presidential system   parliamentary republics   parliamentary constitutional monarchies in which the monarch does not personally exercise power   constitutional monarchies in which the monarch personally exercises power often alongside a weak parliament   absolute monarchies   states whose constitutions grant only a single party the right to govern   states where constitutional provisions for government have been suspended Anarchism - a political philosophy which considers the state to be unnecessary harmful or otherwise undesirable and favors instead a stateless society Authoritarian Authoritarian governments are characterized by an emphasis on the authority of the state in a republic or union. It is a political system controlled by unelected rulers who usually permit some degree of individual freedom. Constitutional monarchy A government that has a monarch but one whose powers are limited by law or by a formal constitution such as the United Kingdom67 Constitutional republic A government whose powers are limited by law or a formal constitution and chosen by a vote amongst at least some sections of the populace (Ancient Sparta was in its own terms a republic though most inhabitants were disenfranchised; The early United States was a republic but the large numbers of blacks and women did not have the vote). Republics which exclude sections of the populace from participation will typically claim to represent all citizens (by defining people without the vote as "non-citizens"). Democracy Rule by a government (usually a Constitutional Republic or Constitutional Monarchy) chosen by election where most of the populace are enfranchised. The key distinction between a democracy and other forms of constitutional government is usually taken to be that the right to vote is not limited by a person's wealth or race (the main qualification for enfranchisement is usually having reached a certain age). A Democratic government is therefore one supported (at least at the time of the election) by a majority of the populace (provided the election was held fairly). A "majority" may be defined in different ways. There are many "power-sharing" (usually in countries where people mainly identify themselves by race or religion) or "electoral-college" or "constituency" systems where the government is not chosen by a simple one-vote-per-person headcount. Dictatorship Rule by an individual who has full power over the country. The term may refer to a system where the dictator came to power and holds it purely by force - but it also includes systems where the dictator first came to power legitimately but then was able to amend the constitution so as to in effect gather all power for themselves.8 See also Autocracy and Stratocracy. Monarchy Rule by an individual who has inherited the role and expects to bequeath it to their heir.9 Oligarchy Rule by a small group of people who share similar interests or family relations.10 Plutocracy A government composed of the wealthy class. Any of the forms of government listed here can be plutocracy. For instance if all of the voted representatives in a republic are wealthy then it is a republic and a plutocracy. Theocracy Rule by a religious elite.11 Totalitarian Totalitarian governments regulate nearly every aspect of public and private life. See also Look up government in Wiktionary the free dictionary. Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Government List of forms of government Politics World government Sovereign state References "government". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. November 2010.  Bealey Frank ed (1999). "government". The Blackwell dictionary of political science: a user's guide to its terms. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 147. ISBN 9780631206958. http://books.google.com/booksid6EuKLlzYoTMC&pgPA147.  Flint Colin & Taylor Peter (2007). Political Geography: World Economy Nation-State and Locality (5th ed.). Pearson/Prentice Hall. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-13-196012-1. http://books.google.com/booksidGXz9xHdHeZcC.  Barclay Harold (1990). People Without Government: An Anthropology of Anarchy. Left Bank Books. p. 31. ISBN 1871082161.  Holsti Kalevi Jaako (1996). The state war and the state of war. Cambridge University Press. pp. 8485. ISBN 9780521577908. http://books.google.com/booksid5SjQSUghsYC&pgPA84.  Fotopoulos Takis The Multidimensional Crisis and Inclusive Democracy. (Athens: Gordios 2005).(English translation of the book with the same title published in Greek). "Victorian Electronic Democracy : Glossary". July 28 2005. Archived from the original on 2007-12-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20071213045132/http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/SARC/E-Democracy/FinalReport/Glossary.htm.  American 503 American 1134 American 1225 American 1793 Further reading Kjaer Anne Mette (2004). Governance. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9780745629797. http://books.google.com/booksidAY5SIsf1nI4C.  Newton Kenneth & Van Deth Jan W. (2005). Foundations of Comparative Politics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521536200. http://books.google.com/booksidjkPIYlVKUIC.  Sharma Urmila & Sharma S.K. (2000). "Forms of Government". Principles and Theory of Political Science. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. ISBN 9788171569380. http://books.google.com/booksidqdZ3VRRLDrgC&pgPA406.