Different Types of Governments

The government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. ~ Mark Twain

There exist different types of government and every type of government has its own set of positive as well as negative aspects. Every country has embraced some or the other form of government and functions in a different way. Here are the different types of government:

Monarchy

Monarchy implies rule or the power of government in the hands of an individual who has inherited the role and expects to bequeath it to the descendants. Currently there exist thirty-one monarchs reigning over forty-five extant sovereign monarchies in the world, sixteen of which are Commonwealth Realms that formally recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state and Prince Charles as heir.

Despotism

Despotism is the form of rule wherein a single leader rules the entire population and all his or her subjects are considered to be his or her slaves. The Pharaoh of Egypt is an example of this sort of rule. In case of contemporary contexts, the term implies tyrannical rule.

Dictatorship

Dictatorship implies rule by an individual who has complete power over the country. Although there have been several definitions of dictatorship, broadly all the various types and forms of dictatorship tend to exhibit totalitarian characteristics. When the power of the government does not come from the people, is unlimited and tends to expand their scope of power to control every aspect of people's life, the form can be termed ad dictatorship.

Oligarchy

Oligarchy is the form of government where a small group has the power to govern or rule. Aristotle had coined the term oligarchy as synonym for rule by the rich (which is known as plutocracy), oligarchy now simply refers to rule of the privileged few.

Plutocracy

Plutocracy refers to a form of government, which is run by the rich. A Plutocracy is a form of government, which is controlled by a small group of extremely wealthy individuals. In today’s world many political analysts argue there are still some situations in which private corporations and wealthy individuals have a strong hold over the government, which can be synonymous with plutocracy.

Democracy

Democracy is best described by Abraham Lincoln as a form of government that is of the people, by the people and for the people. It is a form of government, which allows people to choose the representatives amongst themselves who are given the rights to form the government. A democracy usually has a standard Constitution that confers certain rights of freedom and expression (and many other rights) to its citizens and expects certain duties from them and a uniform law to govern the entire nation.

Communist Government

Communist Government is a form of Government in which the state is governed by a one-party system. This form of government works on the lines of Marxism-Leninism. Thus, the state and the communist party claim to act in accordance to the wishes of the working class or the peasantry. Although a communist government claims to implement democratic dictatorship of the proletariat, it tends to incline towards the abolition of the state and implementation of communism.

Theocracy

Theocracy is the form of government, which implies rule by a religious elite.

In addition to this, there are several countries that function on hybrid forms of Government. One contemporary example could be Iran with its combination of democratic and theocratic institutions or even The Netherlands, which combines the elements of monarchy and democracy. These are the different types of government.