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Revision as of 21:03, 3 August 2005 by Sandstein (talk | contribs) (→Etymologist Approach to Major Political Systems)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)As there is often a strong correlation between certain ideologies, political systems and economic systems (for example, consider the meanings of the term communism). Many political systems overlap each other in various areas (for example consider the terms autocracy, despotism, totalitarism and tyranny). There are also various mutually exclusive hierarchical categorizations.
Etymologist Approach to Major Political Systems
An etymologist's approach to forms of government: the following are real, possible or imaginary forms of government, all made different by the prefix and suffix combination. Nearly all use one of two suffixes: -archy meaning "leadership" (eg. anarchy - no leadership), and -cracy suffix from Greek "kratos" and means "strength" and "power" (e.g., democracy - people's power). The major exception is the Republic, which is derived from the Latin plural res publicae, which means "the public matters" or, more literally, "the things of the people", i.e. socio-political affairs. For various extant terms an example or annotation is joint.
- adhocracy government in an unstructured fashion; an unstructured organization
- anarchy absence of government; order without government, or in historical cases 'as little as possible'
- andrarchy/androcracy government by men
- aristocracy government by the nobility (aristo="the best")
- autarchy government by an absolute ruler
- autocracy government by one individual, autarchy
- bureaucracy government by civil servants; also the civil servants themselves - not a distinct form, but a generic description for various regimes, where red tape is abundant; however the officials always are subject (at least in law) to the will of the actual political autorities, and usually to the judiaciary
- civilocracy government by klerostocracy, meritocracy, and elections
- confederacy a union of sovereign states
- corpocracy government by corporations (industry)
- demarchy government by the people by lot
- democracy government by the people, either direct (through referendum or popular assembly) or via elections (representative form)
- ethnocracy government by a particular ethnic group
- gerontocracy government by the aged, supposedly wise men- see the Spartan gerousia
- gynarchy government by women
- gynocracy government by women; gynarchy
- hierarchy government by a ranked body; government by priests
- hierocracy government by priests or religious ministers
- kakistocracy government by the worst
- kleptocracy government by thieves - not an existing form, but a negative appreciation of any regime where corruption is excessive
- klerostocracy government by all, by sortition (random selection, lot)
- kritocracy government by judges, gouvernement des juges in French- not a distinct form, but renders the weight of the constututional court on
- matriarchy government by women or mothers- existed only in very primitive tribal cultures; however also said when a monarchy hapens to have a long period of reign by female incumbent(s), such a Queen Victoria or the Dutch queens Wilhelmina- Juliana- Beatrix
- mediacracy government by (those who controll public opinion trough) the media, an appreciation of the workings of some modern democracies
- meritocracy government by those with merit
- minarchy government with the smallest possible bureaucracy or size
- monarchy government by one individual
- ochlocracy government by mobs
- oligarchy government by the few; sometimes specified after their fixed number :
- dyarchy government by two, as in a dual monarchy
- heptarchy government by seven people
- triumvirate government by three people
- tetrarchy government by four people
- panarchy universal rule or dominion- never achieved, but often proclaimed as ambition and sometimes ficticiously pretended on the ground of a 'universal legitimacy' such as
- particracy government by political parties
- patriarchy government by fathers- the original Roman Senate, styling itself Patres ('fathers'), came close; usually just said of rule by men
- plantocracy government by plantation owners
- plutocracy government by the wealthy- has been temporarily achieved in several democracies reserving the right to vote (and/or eligibility) to those who prove a certain wealth, income and/or tax contribution; in practice money always buys influence
- polyarchy government by many people, a vague antonym to monarchy and oligarchy
- pornocracy government by harlots- fiction, but is some instances the power of the harem behind the screen came close
- republic government by professional politicans elected by the populace
- stratocracy government by the armed forces- usually termed military dictatorship or junta
- synarchy joint sovereignty, just as the condominium of Andorra
- technocracy government by technical experts
- thalassocracy sovereignty of the seas
- theocracy government by 'divinity', in fact by clergy or by religious law
- timocracy government by the propertied class
Alphabetical list (major systems with hierarchy)
The following list groups major political systems (recognized by political science) in alphabetical order. The various subtype political systems are listed below the main system of government. Note that many of them are not exclusive and can exist in various combinations (for example, a democracy may be at the same time a hereditary monarchy and socialist republic).
- Anarchism (perhaps better defined as a system of non-government)
- Authoritarianism
- Police state
- Single-party state
- Communist states (their relationship with the communist movement is disputed)
- Fascism
- Totalitarianism
- Autocracy
- Absolutism
- Despotism
- Enlightened Despotism, and the modern equivalent Benevolent Dictatorship
- Dictatorship (not all dictatorships are autocracies)
- Monarchy
- Patriarchy
- Tyranny
- Democracy
- Oligarchy (note: the various oligarchies have never totally identified themselves as such)
- Republic
- Theocracy (Hierocracy)
- Tribalism
List by autonomy of regions
This list will attempt to list political systems with regard to the distribution of sovereignty, in practice meaning autonomy of its regions:
- Sovereignty located exclusively at the centre
- Sovereignty located at the centre and in peripheral areas
List by political franchise
This list will attempt to show a division based on political franchise (suffrage).
Weberian tripartite classification of authority
Max Weber in his tripartite classification of authority distinguished three ideal types of political leadership, domination and authority:
- charismatic domination (familial and religious)
- traditional domination (patriarchs, patrimonalism, feudalism)
- legal domination (modern law and state, bureaucracy)