Basic forms of government

If we compare eight or nine major forms of government, where does Canada fit in? Some would suggest there are eight to 80 forms if you consider different variations, just like the number of sexes. Arguably, there are actually only two forms, which will be set out in a future ‘God and Me’ chart.

To help understand the different forms take a piece of paper and write the names from left to right.

First on the left is anarchy. Below that write zero per cent, which represents ‘zero’ government control. That means there is no government control or rule and that everyone does his own thing without regard for others. On the far right side is totalitarian.

Below that write 100 per cent. In this case, there is 100 per cent government control over everything and everybody. In between these are monarchy, communism, democracy, republic, theocracy, dictatorship, and autocracy.

They can be arranged in any order depending on how much control you determine they have as a form of government. To help consider their order, a brief internet sourced description is provided.

Monarchy has a King or Queen as head of state (absolute monarch has unlimited power by hereditary right or divine right; constitutional monarch has some limit to power by a constitution).

Communism has authoritarian rule with public ownership and rule by a single party. There is no private ownership of property. Goods, services and housing and healthcare, etc. is distributed by the authority. Socialism is similar, but, has citizens owning the means of production and distribution of goods and services but these same means are managed by government.

Democracy is rule by the people (direct democracy) without representatives and whereby whatever the most people vote for becomes law. (50 per cent plus one determine what the other 49 per cent must do). Most democracies usually end up where few would do the voting and the rest came to vote only when there was an important issue.

Republic form (representative democracy) has all citizens with a right to vote and the government power is limited by a constitution. People vote for people to represent them and those people decide what to do.

Theocracy form is not based on the choice of the people, gender or class, but a specific religious ideology which determine the policies, rules, customs, laws and leaders.

Dictatorship form is ruled by a single person who generally acts to protect his own position and power over the welfare of the citizens. A dictator uses different techniques (censorship, indoctrination, propaganda, state terror and secret police, and scapegoating) to control the will of the people.

Autocracy (oligarchy) form has a collection of individuals distinguished by wealth, heredity or race is put in government to rule over the masses. Consider how many forms (or parts of them) are used to govern Canada. The next question is ‘How communist is Canada’?

Sincerely, Robert Hahn Provost