Ancient Greek Government

Government is an essential part of civilization in modern and historic times. This crucial element of society has been observed in different forms. There are three main systems of governments: autocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. Which system a government belongs to is determined by who hold the sovereignty, meaning who has the supreme power and authority (“Sovereignty”). This leads to there being major differences between autocracies, oligarchies, and democracies.

Each type of government holds different views as to the role the leaders and citizens should perform in their country .Different types of government include, oligarchy where the government is run by the best leaders, Tyranny, where they believe those in power should have complete control over its people. In the United States of America, we believe in democracy, rule by the majority. The main problem with our type of government is maintaining it. Our government and its citizens have lost sight of their roles and responsibilities, in government.

usage within these city-states and briefly looked at, in conclusion, regarding their similarity to today’s

In Greece, monarchies were found when the Mycenaeans ruled Greece during the period 2000 to 1100 BC. Monarchy is defined as a system of government where a single ruler has supreme power. The word “monarchy” comes from the Greek words “monos” meaning “single” and “archo” meaning “rule”. This single ruler, known as a king, ruled for life and passed the rule on to his heir when he died. The most famous monarchy was that of King Alexandra of Macedonia who ruled all of Greece from 336 BC.

b. Monarchy – rule by one where power rests in the hands of a king or queen

Another concept presented is the fact that the powers of government are granted to the government by the people, the citizens have the ability to elect government power and the government is not to become the oppressor of its

Other forms of government is Anarchy (everyone or no one) , Monarchy and Dictatorship ( ruled by one, king or queen). Two forms of government is Dictatorship and Democracy. We have direct democracy where individuals vote directly. Dictatorship is the ruling of one. Although there are different sorts of dictatorship, we have communism which is the government structure that only meets the basic needs of its population. The Monarchy dictatorship is the subcategory, where the people in power have the power by birth right and are inherited. These two types of government are totally opposite of each other and they both have their advantages and

Absolute monarchy where a ruler man or woman has complete control over the government. Some may view monarchy as a way to keep everything under control, while most individuals view it as a way a ruler can torment his subjects to his bidding. Rulers viewed proper role of an absolute monarchy as a way to unite the people, on the other hand in their subjects perspective it was a cruel rule and the reason for their laborious life.

Government is an administration defined by the Constitution, but is also a constantly adjusting foundation by the efforts of its citizens. By Litherland (2014), government is defined as policies set in order to lead a body of people (p. 395). Over the span of time, the idea of government has been stretched, changed, and applied to various communities throughout both the nation and the world. Whether it was back in the eighteenth century, current, or in the very near future—government has existed and will continue to exist for its people and the nation it has built its foundation upon. With the use of multiple authors, those of: “Difference between Direct and Representative Democracy” (n.d.), “Federalism - Dividing Power between States and the

Oligarchy: A system of government where the city or country is ruled by a small group of wealthy powerful people and they tend to control the military. This form of government was practiced in Sparta and power is usually shared among members of oligarch. This form of government is like aristocracy practiced in Athens. Although, Oligarchy was practiced in Athens in the year 404 to replace democracy after the catastrophic Peloponnesian War (431-404), but it only lasted for a year. (Cartledge, 2011).

Greek democracy was best developed in the city-state of Athens from where the very word “democracy”, meaning “the rule of the people” stems. People ‘ruled’ by electing officials through lot and making important decisions by majority rule. Democracy was direct, meaning that the Athenians “allowed the whole citizenry to assemble in the central eklisia, or the equivalent today of the main city hall, to vote on important issues” (Makedon 1995). In this sense, Athenian democracy differed from representative democracy that is currently prevalent in most states, in which officials are elected through democratic vote and then given authority to make decisions for the people. In Athens, elected officials were paid, but the pay was very low so that it compared with the wages of the poorest citizens and only covered the compensation of their time and effort.

A second comparison that one could make is that the types of governments also have

In the modern world, most of the countries have democratic government, which means that decisions are made by the people, who rule and govern the state. However, there is not a single state that practices perfect democracy due to different reasons. Governments are too big, which makes it very complex for every citizen to have a voice in decisions. Or, governments are claimed to be democratic, but in practice they can be close to authoritarian or even totalitarian regimes where one person has a power to make and enforce laws. Political power is not allocated evenly among all members of society, so, in this or that way, governments tend to fall in the hands of the few, whom we can call the elite or the power elite.

[ 1 ]. Difference b/w a military government and a monarchy: In a monarchy the King or emperor is a civilian or a military that was “entitled” to the position of monarch by inheritance, whereas in a pure military government the armed forces of a country assume power by the means of a coup d’etat.

Government falls into two categories; monarchy or a republic. A monarchy is a form of government that is always headed by a