Us, You and I

The government is us; we are the government, you and I.

President Theodore Roosevelt, from a speech given at Asheville, North Carolina, September 9, 1896.

Robert Cornelius V. Meyers, Theodore Roosevelt, Patriot and statesman: The true story of an ideal American. P.W. Ziegler and Company, Philadelphia 1902 [this date is impossible, but that's what's printed in the book], p. 521. Online: https://archive.org/stream/theodoreroosevel01lcmeye#page/n0/mode/2up

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The word "politics" comes from the Greek: πολιτικός or "politikos," meaning "of, for, or relating to citizens"; it's basically how people live in a polis, a city. For better or worse, we live in a political world.

Every country on earth has a government of some kind (I admit it's a bit theoretical in places like Somalia). The question is: What kind of government?

The CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/) has information on virtually every country on earth, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, as well as other entities like the British territory of Akrotiri, Antarctica, the Arctic Ocean, and the Australian Ashmore and Cartier Islands, to name a few (and we're not even out of the "A's").

In the middle of the mountain of data available on each country/territory/stretch of ocean is information on the government of the region.

It's more complicated than you might think.

At the most simplistic level, we could divide all the world's governments into democracies and non-democracies. This is useful, in a way. But it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface (for example, compare American democracy [constitution, President, legislature divided into two parts, judiciary, etc.] to Danish democracy [constitution, Monarch, parliament with proportional representation determined by party vote]).

In fact, the CIA has 31 ways (see: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/notesanddefs.html?fieldkey=2128&term=Government%20type) of describing or categorizing the world's governments:

1. Absolute monarchy - a form of government where the monarch rules unhindered, i.e., without any laws, constitution, or legally organized opposition. 
2. Anarchy - a condition of lawlessness or political disorder brought about by the absence of governmental authority. 
3. Authoritarian - a form of government in which state authority is imposed onto many aspects of citizens' lives. 
4. Commonwealth - a nation, state, or other political entity founded on law and united by a compact of the people for the common good. 
5. Communist - a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single - often authoritarian - party holds power; state controls are imposed with the elimination of private ownership of property or capital while claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people (i.e., a classless society). 
6. Confederacy (Confederation) - a union by compact or treaty between states, provinces, or territories, that creates a central government with limited powers; the constituent entities retain supreme authority over all matters except those delegated to the central government. 
7. Constitutional - a government by or operating under an authoritative document (constitution) that sets forth the system of fundamental laws and principles that determines the nature, functions, and limits of that government. 
8. Constitutional democracy - a form of government in which the sovereign power of the people is spelled out in a governing constitution. 
9. Constitutional monarchy - a system of government in which a monarch is guided by a constitution whereby his/her rights, duties, and responsibilities are spelled out in written law or by custom. 
10. Democracy - a form of government in which the supreme power is retained by the people, but which is usually exercised indirectly through a system of representation and delegated authority periodically renewed. 
11. Democratic republic - a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them. 
12. Dictatorship - a form of government in which a ruler or small clique wield absolute power (not restricted by a constitution or laws). 
13. Ecclesiastical - a government administrated by a church. 
14. Emirate - similar to a monarchy or sultanate, but a government in which the supreme power is in the hands of an emir (the ruler of a Muslim state); the emir may be an absolute overlord or a sovereign with constitutionally limited authority. 
15. Federal (Federation) - a form of government in which sovereign power is formally divided - usually by means of a constitution - between a central authority and a number of constituent regions (states, colonies, or provinces) so that each region retains some management of its internal affairs; differs from a confederacy in that the central government exerts influence directly upon both individuals as well as upon the regional units. 
16. Federal republic - a state in which the powers of the central government are restricted and in which the component parts (states, colonies, or provinces) retain a degree of self-government; ultimate sovereign power rests with the voters who chose their governmental representatives. 
17. Islamic republic - a particular form of government adopted by some Muslim states; although such a state is, in theory, a theocracy, it remains a republic, but its laws are required to be compatible with the laws of Islam. 
18. Maoism - the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism developed in China by Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung), which states that a continuous revolution is necessary if the leaders of a communist state are to keep in touch with the people. 
19. Marxism - the political, economic, and social principles espoused by 19th century economist Karl Marx; he viewed the struggle of workers as a progression of historical forces that would proceed from a class struggle of the proletariat (workers) exploited by capitalists (business owners), to a socialist "dictatorship of the proletariat," to, finally, a classless society - Communism. 
20. Marxism-Leninism - an expanded form of communism developed by Lenin from doctrines of Karl Marx; Lenin saw imperialism as the final stage of capitalism and shifted the focus of workers' struggle from developed to underdeveloped countries. 
21. Monarchy - a government in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of a monarch who reigns over a state or territory, usually for life and by hereditary right; the monarch may be either a sole absolute ruler or a sovereign - such as a king, queen, or prince - with constitutionally limited authority. 
22. Oligarchy - a government in which control is exercised by a small group of individuals whose authority generally is based on wealth or power. 
23. Parliamentary democracy - a political system in which the legislature (parliament) selects the government - a prime minister, premier, or chancellor along with the cabinet ministers - according to party strength as expressed in elections; by this system, the government acquires a dual responsibility: to the people as well as to the parliament. 
24. Parliamentary government (Cabinet-Parliamentary government) - a government in which members of an executive branch (the cabinet and its leader - a prime minister, premier, or chancellor) are nominated to their positions by a legislature or parliament, and are directly responsible to it; this type of government can be dissolved at will by the parliament (legislature) by means of a no confidence vote or the leader of the cabinet may dissolve the parliament if it can no longer function. 
25. Parliamentary monarchy - a state headed by a monarch who is not actively involved in policy formation or implementation (i.e., the exercise of sovereign powers by a monarch in a ceremonial capacity); true governmental leadership is carried out by a cabinet and its head - a prime minister, premier, or chancellor - who are drawn from a legislature (parliament). 
26. Presidential - a system of government where the executive branch exists separately from a legislature (to which it is generally not accountable). 
27. Republic - a representative democracy in which the people's elected deputies (representatives), not the people themselves, vote on legislation. 
28. Socialism - a government in which the means of planning, producing, and distributing goods is controlled by a central government that theoretically seeks a more just and equitable distribution of property and labor; in actuality, most socialist governments have ended up being no more than dictatorships over workers by a ruling elite. 
29. Sultanate - similar to a monarchy, but a government in which the supreme power is in the hands of a sultan (the head of a Muslim state); the sultan may be an absolute ruler or a sovereign with constitutionally limited authority. 
30. Theocracy - a form of government in which a Deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, but the Deity's laws are interpreted by ecclesiastical authorities (bishops, mullahs, etc.); a government subject to religious authority. 
31. Totalitarian - a government that seeks to subordinate the individual to the state by controlling not only all political and economic matters, but also the attitudes, values, and beliefs of its population.

There's quite a bit of overlap here, as the CIA acknowledges: "for some countries more than one definition applies." For example, Communist states (5) are usually Totalitarian (31) and might be Marxist (19), Marxist-Leninist (20) or even Maoist (18). I'm a little surprised we don't see "Stalinist," but perhaps that's become passé.

And let's not even consider the creative use of language involved in the designations some states employ -- the conventional long form name of North Korea, for example, is "Democratic People's Republic of Korea." This is five words in English, and at least three of them are wrong (if you're curious, the official name of the country in Korean is "Choson-minjujuui-inmin-konghwaguk"), or better

I'd originally thought about creating a world map using these different categories, but 31 is way too many colors for a map. And in any case, with the problems of overlapping categories, I decided it was unlikely to be particularly helpful.

Here's how Wikipedia maps this mess:

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forms_of_government

So, that takes care of things right?

HA!

Let's take a quick look at the forms of government (historical, theoretical, fictional) from whence we just got that nifty map (if you want to see it, go here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forms_of_government) :

1. Absolute Monarchy
2. Adhocracy
3. Alliance
4. Anarchy
5. Androcracy
6. Anocracy
7. Associated State
8. Asymmetrical Federalism
9. Authoritarian
10. Autocracy
11. Banana Republic
12. Band Society
13. Bankocracy
14. Bureaucracy
15. Capitalism
16. Chartered Company
17. Chiefdom
18. Colony
19. Commonwealth
20. Communism
21. Confederation
22. Constitutional Monarchy
23. Constitutional Republic
24. Constitutionalism
25. Corporate Republic
26. Corporatocracy
27. Crown Colony
28. Crowned Republic
29. Cybersynacy
30. Demarchy
31. Democracy
32. Democratic Republic
33. Dependent Territory
34. Direct Democracy
35. Distributism
36. Electocracy
37. Empire
38. Ergatocracy
39. Exclusive Mandate
40. Federacy
41. Federal Monarchy
42. Federal Republic
43. Federal Republic
44. Federalism
45. Feudalism
46. Geniocracy
47. Government in Exile
48. Gynarchy
49. Hegemony
50. Islamic Republic
51. Kakistocracy
52. Kleptocracy
53. Kratocracy
54. Kritarchy
55. League
56. Liberal Democracy
57. Libertarianism
58. Magocracy
59. Mandate
60. Maoism
61. Meritocracy
62. Nepotocracy
63. Netocracy
64. Neutral Zone
65. Nomocracy
66. Occupied Territory
67. Ochlocracy
68. Oligarchy
69. Parliamentary Republic
70. Parliamentary System
71. Plutocracy
72. Police State
73. Presidential System
74. Protectorate
75. Provisional Government
76. Representative Democracy
77. Republic
78. Social Democracy
79. Socialism
80. Socialist Republic
81. Statism
82. Stratocracy
83. Talassocracy
84. Technocracy
85. Theocracy
86. Timocracy
87. Totalitarian
88. Totalitarian Democracy
89. Uniocracy
90. Unitary Stte
91. Welfare State

Yes, that's 91 different ways of characterizing and distinguishing governments (and yes, there's a Wikipedia page for every single one of those).

This is an election year, and government is certainly a topic which occupies a fair amount of public conversation today. One whine I have heard on several occasions is that "we need to move beyond two parties!"

Okay. Here are a bunch of different ways of arranging how we live together. Choose.

But choose wisely. Some of these are not very pleasant.