Thursday Thirteen

Types of government

1. Tribalism is a governmental system based on a small complex society of varying degrees of centralisation that is led by an individual known as a chief.

2. Monarchism is a governmental system in which the government is headed by an agreed-upon head of the nobility who is known as the monarch, usually in the form of a king or emperor (but also less commonly a queen or empress). In most monarchical systems the position of monarch is one inherited from a previous ruler by bloodline or marriage, but in other cases it may be a position elected by the nobility themselves, as was the case in the ancient Roman Kingdom and the medieval Holy Roman Empire.

3. Republicanism is a governmental system where laws and governmental policies are considered a "public matter." The citizens of the society, whoever they may be, decide these "public matters." Most modern nation-states are examples of republics, but other examples include those of ancient Rome and Athens.

4. Despotism is a governmental system where the laws and resources of a nation are controlled by one individual, usually a monarch or dictator, who holds absolute political power. Examples include the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt and the Roman emperors.

5. Feudalism is a governmental system of land ownership and duties common to medieval Europe. Under feudalism, all the land in a kingdom belonged to the king. However, the king would give some of the land to the lords or nobles who fought for him. These presents of land were called manors. Then the nobles gave some of their land to vassals. The vassals then had to do duties for the nobles. The lands of vassals were called fiefs.

6. Colonialism is a governmental system where a native group (or their lands and resources) is subjugated by an external political power for their own economic and/or political benefit.

7. Capitalism is a governmental system where the means of production (machines, tools, factories, etc.) are owned by private individuals. Workers then negotiate with those individuals to use those means of production in exchange for a portion of what they produce, usually in the form of capital (money). The owners of the means of production are entitled to whatever portion of the products of the workers' labor that is agreed upon by the two parties. The capitalist system is usually accompanied by a Welfare state which plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life.

8. Minarchism is a variant of capitalism which advocates for the State to exist solely to provide a very small number of services. A popular model of the State proposed by minarchists is known as the night-watchman state, in which the only governmental functions are to protect citizens from aggression, theft, breach of contract, and fraud as defined by property laws, limiting it to three institutions: the military, the police, and courts.

9. Distributism is a variant of capitalism which views widespread property ownership as fundamental right; the means of production are spread as widely as possible rather than being centralized under the control of the state (as in state socialism), or a few individuals/corporations (as in what proponents of distributism call "crony capitalism"). Distributism fundamentally opposes socialism and capitalism, which distributists view as equally flawed and exploitative. In contrast, distributism seeks to subordinate economic activity to human life as a whole.

10. Socialism is a governmental system where workers, democratically and/or socially own the means of production. The economic framework may be decentralized and self-managed in autonomous economic units, as in libertarian systems, or centrally planned, as in authoritarian systems. Public services such as healthcare and education would be commonly, collectively, and/or state owned.

11. Anarchism is a governmental system that advocates self-governed societies based on voluntary institutions. These are often described as stateless societies, although several authors have defined them more specifically as institutions based on non-hierarchical or free associations. Anarchism holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and/or harmful.

12. Communism is a socialist system in which the means of production are commonly owned (either by the people directly, through the commune, or by a communist state or society), and production is undertaken for use, rather than for profit. Communist society is thus, in theory, stateless, classless, moneyless, and democratic — it is usually regarded as the "final form" of a socialist or anarchist society.

13. Totalitarianism is a governmental system in which the land and resources of a nation are controlled by a centralised authoritarian state that holds absolute political power, usually under a dictatorship or single political party. Examples include the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.


Information from Wikipedia.

______________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 557th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.