1.
Forms of government
–
A government is the system by which a state or community is controlled. In the Commonwealth of Nations, the government is also used more narrowly to refer to the collective group of people that exercises executive authority in a state. This usage is analogous to what is called an administration in American English, finally, government is also sometimes used in English as a synonym for governance. In the case of its broad definition, government normally consists of legislators, administrators. Government is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state. A form of government, or form of governance, refers to the set of political systems. Government of any kind currently affects every human activity in many important ways, in political science, it has long been a goal to create a typology or taxonomy of polities. as typologies of political systems are not obvious. It is especially important in the science fields of comparative politics. On the surface, identifying a form of government appears to be simple, the United States is a constitutional republic, while the former Soviet Union was a socialist republic. However self-identification is not objective, and as Kopstein and Lichbach argue, for example, elections are a defining characteristic of an electoral democracy, but in practice elections in the former Soviet Union were not free and fair and took place in a one-party state. Voltaire argued that the Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, many governments that officially call themselves a democratic republic are not democratic, nor a republic, they are usually a dictatorship de facto. Communist dictatorships have been prone to use this term. For example, the name of North Vietnam was The Democratic Republic of Vietnam. China uses a variant, The Peoples Republic of China, thus in many practical classifications it would not be considered democratic. Experience with those movements in power, and the ties they may have to particular forms of government. For example, The meaning of conservatism in the United States has little in common with the way the words definition is used elsewhere, as Ribuffo notes, what Americans now call conservatism much of the world calls liberalism or neoliberalism. Since the 1950s conservatism in the United States has been associated with the Republican Party. However, during the era of segregation many Southern Democrats were conservatives, values are sorted from 1–100 based on level of democracy and political accountability
Forms of government
–
presidential republics
2.
Separatism
–
A common definition of separatism is that it is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy. There is some debate about this definition, and in particular how it relates to secessionism. Separatist groups practice a form of identity politics, political activity, such groups believe attempts at integration with dominant groups compromise their identity and ability to pursue greater self-determination. However, economic and political factors usually are critical in creating strong separatist movements as opposed to less ambitious identity movements, groups may have one or more motivations for separation, including, emotional resentment and hatred of rival communities. Protection from ethnic cleansing and genocide, resistance by victims of oppression, including denigration of their language, culture or religion. Propaganda by those who hope to gain politically from intergroup conflict, Economic and political dominance of one group that does not share power and privilege in an egalitarian fashion. Economic motivations, seeking to end exploitation by more powerful group or, conversely. Preservation of threatened religious, language or other cultural tradition, destabilization from one separatist movement giving rise to others. Geopolitical power vacuum from breakup of larger states or empires, continuing fragmentation as more and more states break up. Feeling that the nation was added to the larger state by illegitimate means. The perception that the state can no longer support ones own group or has betrayed their interests, governments may respond in a number of ways, some of which are mutually exclusive. Settle for a confederation or a relationship where there are only limited ties among states. Some governments suppress any separatist movement in their own country, Ethnic separatism is based more on cultural and linguistic differences than religious or racial differences, which also may exist. Chechen separatism in the Caucasus, currently the Republic of Chechnya is part of the Russian Federation, serb separatism in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Albanian separatism in Kosovo and R. Macedonia Turkish separatism in Cyprus, South Ossetian and Abkhazian separatism in Georgia. Armenian separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, azeri separatists in Iran want to unite the provinces of East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Zanjan and Ardabil with Azerbaijan. Kurdish separatism in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, silesian separatism in Poland and Czech Republic
Separatism
–
Eastern
Ukraine 's separatism emerged as a reaction to the
Euromaidan revolution
Separatism
–
Mural for Catalan independence in
Belfast.
Separatism
–
OLF rebels in Kenya armed with AK-47 rifles.
Separatism
–
A
Tuareg rebel fighter in northern
Niger.
3.
Dominion
–
Dominions were semi-independent polities under the British Crown, constituting the British Empire, beginning with Canadian Confederation in 1867. They included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State, and then from the late 1940s also India, Pakistan, and Ceylon. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 recognised the Dominions as autonomous Communities within the British Empire, earlier usage of dominion to refer to a particular territory dates to the 16th century and was used to describe Wales from 1535 to 1801 and New England between 1686 and 1689. At the outset, a distinction must be made between a British dominion and British Dominions, all territories forming part of the British Empire were British dominions but only some were British Dominions. At the time of the adoption of the Statute of Westminster, there were six British Dominions, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, at the same time there were many other jurisdictions that were British dominions, for example Cyprus. The Order in Council annexing the island of Cyprus in 1914 declared that, from 5 November, Dominion, as an official title, was conferred on the Colony of Virginia about 1660 and on the Dominion of New England in 1686. These dominions never had full self-governing status, the creation of the short-lived Dominion of New England was designed—contrary to the purpose of later dominions—to increase royal control and to reduce the colonys self-government. Under the British North America Act 1867, what is now eastern Canada received the status of Dominion upon the Confederation of several British possessions in North America. However, it was at the Colonial Conference of 1907 when the colonies of Canada. Two other self-governing colonies—New Zealand and Newfoundland—were granted the status of Dominion in the same year and these were followed by the Union of South Africa in 1910 and the Irish Free State in 1922. The Statute of Westminster 1931 converted this status into legal reality, following the Second World War, the decline of British colonialism led to Dominions generally being referred to as Commonwealth realms and the use of the word dominion gradually diminished. Nonetheless, though disused, it remains Canadas legal title and the phrase Her Majestys Dominions is still used occasionally in legal documents in the United Kingdom. The phrase His/Her Majestys dominions is a legal and constitutional phrase that refers to all the realms and territories of the Sovereign, thus, for example, the British Ireland Act,1949, recognised that the Republic of Ireland had ceased to be part of His Majestys dominions. The later sense of Dominion was capitalised to distinguish it from the general sense of dominion. The word dominions originally referred to the possessions of the Kingdom of England, oliver Cromwells full title in the 1650s was Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the dominions thereto belonging. In 1660, King Charles II gave the Colony of Virginia the title of dominion in gratitude for Virginias loyalty to the Crown during the English Civil War, the Commonwealth of Virginia, a State of the United States, still has the Old Dominion as one of its nicknames. Dominion also occurred in the name of the short-lived Dominion of New England, in all of these cases, the word dominion implied no more than being subject to the English Crown. The foundation of Dominion status followed the achievement of internal self-rule in British Colonies, Colonial responsible government began to emerge during the mid-19th century
Dominion
–
Map of the British Empire under
Queen Victoria at the end of the nineteenth century. "Dominions" refers to all territories belonging to
the Crown.
Dominion
–
The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee produced this
First World War poster. Designed by
Arthur Wardle, the poster urges men from the Dominions of the British Empire to enlist in the war effort.
Dominion
–
Dominion of Canada Postage Stamp, 1898
Dominion
–
The prime ministers of Britain and the four major dominions at the 1944
Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference. Left to right:
William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canada);
Jan Smuts (South Africa);
Winston Churchill (UK);
Peter Fraser (New Zealand);
John Curtin (Australia).
4.
Federalism
–
Federalism is the mixed or compound mode of government, combining a general government with regional governments in a single political system. It can thus be defined as a form of government in there is a division of powers between two levels of government of equal status. Leading examples of the federation or federal state include the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, some also today characterize the European Union as the pioneering example of federalism in a multi-state setting, in a concept termed the federal union of states. The terms federalism and confederalism both have a root in the Latin word foedus, meaning treaty, pact or covenant and their common meaning until the late eighteenth century was a simple league or inter-governmental relationship among sovereign states based upon a treaty. It was in this sense that James Madison in Federalist 39 had referred to the new United States as neither a national nor a federal Constitution, thus, this article relates to the modern usage of the word federalism. Modern federalism is a based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments. The term federalist describes several political beliefs around the world depending on context, however, in some countries, those skeptical of federal prescriptions believe that increased regional autonomy is likely to lead to secession or dissolution of the nation. In Syria, federalization proposals have failed in part because Syrians fear that these borders could turn out to be the same as the ones that the parties have currently carved out. Federations such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia collapsed as soon as it was possible to put the model to the test, cultural-historical theories, which hold that federal institutions are more likely to be adopted in societies with culturally or ethnically fragmented populations. Infrastructural power theories, which hold that federalism is likely to emerge when the subunits of a potential federation already have highly developed infrastructures. In Europe, Federalist is sometimes used to describe those who favor a federal government. Most European federalists want this development to continue within the European Union, European federalism originated in post-war Europe, one of the more important initiatives was Winston Churchills speech in Zürich in 1946. In the United States, federalism originally referred to belief in a central government. Constitution was being drafted, the Federalist Party supported a central government. This is very different from the usage of federalism in Europe. The distinction stems from the fact that federalism is situated in the middle of the spectrum between a confederacy and a unitary state. Constitution was written as a reaction to the Articles of Confederation, in contrast, Europe has a greater history of unitary states than North America, thus European federalism argues for a weaker central government, relative to a unitary state. The modern American usage of the word is closer to the European sense
Federalism
–
Satiric depiction of late 19th century political tensions in Spain
Federalism
–
Unitary states
5.
Federation
–
A federation is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central government. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is known as federalism and it can be considered the opposite of another system, the unitary state. Federations are often multiethnic and cover an area of territory. The initial agreements create a stability that encourages other common interests, at some time, that is recognized and a movement is organized to merge more closely. At other times, especially when common cultural factors are at such as ethnicity and language. The Old Swiss Confederacy was an example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, the oldest continuous federation, and a role model for many subsequent federations, is the United States. Some of the New World federations failed, the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states ten years after its founding, others, such as Argentina and Mexico, have shifted between federal, confederal, and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became a federation only after the fall of the monarchy, australia and Canada are also federations. Germany is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815, the North German Confederation, the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Malaysia became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire. In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq since 2005. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government, however, a federation is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy, however, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others, an example of such a federation is Malaysia, in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia. A federation often emerges from an agreement between a number of separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former was the case with the United States and Switzerland, however, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models
Federation
–
The
United Provinces of Central America was a short-lived federal republic
Federation
–
Unitary states
6.
Confederation
–
The 44th World Science Fiction Convention, also known as ConFederation, was held August 28 through September 1,1986, at the Marriott Marquis and Atlanta Hilton in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The convention was co-chaired by Penny Frierson and Ron Zukowski, total attendance for the convention was reported as 5,811 members. The Guests of Honor were author Ray Bradbury and writer Terry Carr, the Hugo Awards, named after Hugo Gernsback, are presented every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. Results are based on the ballots submitted by members of the World Science Fiction Society, other awards, including the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, are also presented each year at Worldcon
Confederation
7.
Devolution
–
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization, devolved territories have the power to make legislation relevant to the area. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority may be temporary and are reversible. Thus, the state de jure unitary. Legislation creating devolved parliaments or assemblies can be repealed or amended by central government in the way as any statute. In federal systems, by contrast, sub-unit government is guaranteed in the constitution, the sub-units therefore have a lower degree of protection under devolution than under federalism. It has six states and two territories with power than states. The Northern Territory of Australia refused statehood in a 1998 referendum, the rejection was a surprise to both the Australian and Northern Territory governments. Territory legislation can be disallowed by the Commonwealth Parliament in Canberra, although Canada is a federal state, a large portion of its land mass in the north is under the legislative jurisdiction of the federal government. This has been the case since 1870, since the 1970s, the federal government has been transferring its decision-making powers to northern governments. This means greater local control and accountability by northerners for decisions central to the future of the territories, Yukon was carved from the Northwest Territories in 1898 but it remained a federal territory. Subsequently, in 1905, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from the Northwest Territories, other portions of Ruperts Land were added to the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, extending the provinces northward from their previous narrow band around the St. Lawrence and lower Great Lakes. The District of Ungava was an administrative district of Canadas Northwest Territories from 1895 to 1912. The continental areas of district were transferred by the Parliament of Canada with the adoption of the Quebec Boundary Extension Act,1898. The status of the interior of Labrador which was believed part of Ungava was settled in 1927 by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which ruled in favour of Newfoundland. In 1999, the government created Nunavut pursuant to a land claim agreement reached with Inuit. The offshore islands to the west and north of Quebec remained part of the Northwest Territories until the creation of Nunavut in 1999, since that time, the federal government has slowly devolved legislative jurisdiction to the territories. Enabling the territories to become more self-sufficient and prosperous and to play a role in the Canadian federation is considered a key component to development in Canada’s North
Devolution
–
Fort Hall Indian Casino, Idaho. Gambling is allowed within
Native American reservation lands.
8.
Supranational union
–
A supranational union is a type of multinational political union where negotiated power is delegated to an authority by governments of member states. The concept of union is sometimes used to describe the European Union. The EU is the entity which provides for international popular elections. The term supranational is used in a loose, undefined sense in other contexts. Another method of decision-making in international organisations is intergovernmentalism, in state governments play a more prominent role. He thought this might begin with the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union and he broached the idea in a November 1945 and November 1947 articles in The Atlantic Monthly that described how the constitution of such an organization might be written. In an April 1948 address at Carnegie Hall, he reiterated, There is only one path to peace and security, the term supranational occurs in an international treaty for the first time in the Treaty of Paris,18 April 1951. This new legal term defined the Community method in creating the European Coal and Steel Community and it defines the relationship between the High Authority or European Commission and the other four institutions. In the treaty, it relates to a new democratic and legal concept, the Founding Fathers of the European Community and the present European Union said that supranationalism was the cornerstone of the governmental system. This is enshrined in the Europe Declaration made on 18 April 1951 and this Europe remains open to all nations. We profoundly hope that other nations will join us in our common endeavour and it was made to recall future generations to their historic duty of uniting Europe based on liberty and democracy under the rule of law. Thus, they viewed the creation of a wider and deeper Europe as intimately bound to the development of the supranational or Community system. This Europe was open to all nations who were free to decide, a supranational union is a supranational polity which lies somewhere between a confederation that is an association of States and a federation that is a state. The EU has supranational competences, but it possesses these competences only to the extent that they are conferred on it by its member states. Within the scope of competences, the union exercises its powers in a sovereign manner, having its own legislative, executive. The supranational Community also has a chamber for organised civil society including economic and social associations, unlike states in a federal super-state, member states retain ultimate sovereignty, although some sovereignty is shared with, or ceded to, the supranational body. Supranational agreements encourage stability and trust, because governments cannot break international accords at a whim, the supranational action may be time-limited. This was the case with the European Coal and Steel Community, supranational accords may be permanent, such as an agreement to outlaw war between the partners
Supranational union
9.
Colony
–
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state, distinct from the home territory of the sovereign. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies, some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception. The metropolitan state is the state that rules the colony, in Ancient Greece, the city that founded a colony was known as the metropolis. Mother country is a reference to the state from the point of view of citizens who live in its colony. There is a United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, unlike a puppet state or satellite state, a colony has no independent international representation, and its top-level administration is under direct control of the metropolitan state. The term informal colony is used by historians to refer to a country under the de facto control of another state. The word colony comes from the Latin word colōnia and this in turn derives from the word colōnus, which means colonist but also implies a farmer. Cologne is an example of a settlement preserving this etymology, other, less obvious settlements that began as Roman colonia include cities from Belgrade to York. A tell-tale sign of a settlement once being a Roman Colony is a city centre with a grid pattern. The terminology is taken from architectural analogy, where a column pillar is beneath the head capital, so colonies are not independently self-controlled, but rather are controlled from a separate entity that serves the capital function. Roman colonies first appeared when the Romans conquered neighbouring Italic peoples and these were small farming settlements that appeared when the Romans had subdued an enemy in war. A colony could take many forms, as a trade outpost or a base in enemy territory. Its original definition as a settlement created by migrating from a central region to an outlying one became the modern definition. Kandahar formed as a Greek colony during the Hellenistic era by Alexander the great in 330 BC, alaska, a colony of Russia from the middle 18th century until sold to the United States in 1867. It became the 49th American state in 1959, angola, a colony of Portugal since the 16th century. Australia was formed as an independent country in 1901 from a federation of six distinct British colonies which were founded between 1788 and 1829, barbados, was a colony of Great Britain important in the Atlantic slave trade. It gained its independence in 1966, brazil, a colony of Portugal since the 16th century. Canada, colonized first by France as New France, then under British rule, congo, Democratic Republic of the, a colony of Belgium from 1908 to 1960
Colony
–
Puerto Rico, considered by some to be "the world's oldest colony"
Colony
–
Chart of non-self-governing territories (as of June 2012 [update]).
10.
Empire
–
An empire can be made solely of contiguous territories such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or of territories far remote from the homeland, such as a colonial empire. Aside from the formal usage, the term empire can also be used to refer to a large-scale business enterprise. The term empire is associated with words such as imperialism, colonialism. Empire is often used to describe a displeasure to overpowering situations, the former method provides greater tribute and direct political control, yet limits further expansion because it absorbs military forces to fixed garrisons. The latter method provides less tribute and indirect control, but avails military forces for further expansion, territorial empires tend to be contiguous areas. The term, on occasion, has applied to maritime empires or thalassocracies, with looser structures. Empires are usually larger than kingdoms and this aspiration to universality resulted in conquest by converting ‘outsiders’ or ‘inferiors’ into the colonialized religion. This association of nationality and race became complex and has had an intense drive for expansion. An empire is a multi-ethnic or multinational state with political and/or military dominion of populations who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the ethnic group. This is in contrast to a federation, which is a state voluntarily composed of autonomous states and peoples. An empire is a political party who rules over territories outside of its original borders. Definitions of what physically and politically constitute an empire vary and it might be a state affecting imperial policies or a particular political structure. Empires are typically formed from ethnic, national, cultural. Empire and colonialism are used to refer to relationships between powerful state or society versus a less powerful one, sometimes, an empire is a semantic construction, such as when a ruler assumes the title of emperor. That rulers nation logically becomes an empire, despite having no additional territory or hegemony, among the last of the empires in the 20th century were the Central African Empire, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Manchukuo, the German Empire, and Korea. Furthermore, empires can expand by both land and sea, Empires originated as different types of states, although they commonly began as powerful monarchies. Ideas about empires have changed over time, ranging from public approval to universal distaste, Empires are built out of separate units with some kind of diversity – ethnic, national, cultural, religious – and imply at least some inequality between the rulers and the ruled. Without this inequality, the system would be seen as commonwealth, many empires were the result of military conquest, incorporating the vanquished states into a political union, but imperial hegemony can be established in other ways
Empire
–
Maurya Empire of
India at its greatest extent under
Ashoka the Great
Empire
–
Imperialism and colonization in 1900
Empire
–
Han Empire of China in 87 BC.
Empire
–
In the year 1690, the
realms of the
Mughal Empire spanned from
Kabul to
Cape Comorin.
11.
Hegemony
–
Hegemony is the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others. In ancient Greece, hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states, the dominant state is known as the hegemon. In the 19th century, hegemony came to denote the Social or cultural predominance or ascendancy, later, it could be used to mean a group or regime which exerts undue influence within a society. In contrast to authoritarian rule, cultural hegemony is hegemonic only if those affected by it also consent to and struggle over its common sense. From the post-classical Latin word hegemonia, from 1513 or earlier, or the Greek word ἡγεμονία, meaning authority, rule, political supremacy, likewise, the role of Athens within the short-lived Delian League was that of a hegemon. Ancient historians such as Xenophon and Ephorus were the first who used the term in its modern sense. In Ancient East Asia, Chinese hegemony existed during the Spring and Autumn period and they were appointed by feudal lord conferences, and thus were nominally obliged to uphold the imperium of the Zhou Dynasty over the subordinate states. 1st and 2nd century Europe was dominated by the peace of the Pax Romana. It was instituted by the emperor Augustus, and was accompanied by a series of military campaigns. From the 7th century to the 12th century, the Umayyad Caliphate and later Abbasid Caliphate dominated the vast territories they governed, with other states like the Byzantine Empire paying tribute. In 7th century India, Harsha, ruler of an empire in northern India from 606 to 647 AD. He preferred not to rule as a government, but left conquered kings on their thrones and contenting himself with tribute. From the late 9th to the early 11th century, the empire developed by Charlemagne achieved hegemony in Europe, with dominance over France, Italy and he lists several contenders for historical hegemony. Based on Portugals dominance in navigation, based on Dutch control of credit and money. Based on British textiles and command of the high seas, based on British industrial supremacy and railroads. To this list could be added the hegemony of Habsburg Spain in 16th century Europe, however, after an attempt by Phillip IV to restore it, by the middle of the 17th century Spains pretensions to hegemony had definitely and irremediably failed. This, in turn, made possible the Amsterdam stock market, in France, King Louis XIV and Napoleon I attempted French hegemony via economic, cultural and military domination of most of Continental Europe. However, Jeremy Black writes that, because of Britain, France was unable to enjoy the benefits of this hegemony, Britain also controlled the Indian subcontinent and large portions of Africa
Hegemony
–
Ancient Greece under the hegemony of
Thebes, 371–362 BCE
12.
Transcontinental state
–
This is a list of countries located on more than one continent, known as transcontinental states or intercontinental states. The boundary between Europe and Asia is purely conventional, and several remained in use well into the 20th century. However, the now-prevalent convention, used for the purposes of this page, follows the Caucasus northern chain, the Ural River and it has been in use by some cartographers since about 1850. This convention results in several countries finding themselves almost entirely in Asia, listed further below, separately, are countries with distant non-contiguous parts on separate continents. The land border between Asia and Africa is considered to go along the Isthmus of Suez and the Suez Canal in Egypt, the border continues through the Gulf of Suez, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Since there is no significant geographical separation between Europe and Asia north of the Black Sea, the border between the two is largely an arbitrary, historical, and cultural construct and these delineations, however, are not definitive. Similarly, although Georgia lies on the arbitrary Europe–Asia border, it is considered to be part of Europe. A further complication arises from the fact that Siberia lies east of the Ural Mountains, the Turkish city Istanbul lies on both sides of the Bosporus, making it a transcontinental city. Çanakkale is also a Turkish city situated on two continents, Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey are transcontinental countries with territory in both Europe and Asia by any definition except that of Eurasia as a single continent. While Russia is historically a European country with a history of imperial conquests in Asia, Kazakhstan is also a transcontinental country by this definition, its West Kazakhstan and Atyrau provinces extending on either side of the Ural River. Despite its bi-continental placement, Kazakhstans physical, cultural, and geographic characteristics are similar to those of the other Central Asian countries. This Ural River delineation is the segment not to follow a major mountain range or wide water body. The Ural River bridge in Orenburg is even labeled with permanent monuments carved with the word Europe on one side, Asia on the other. The threefold division of the Old World into Europe, Asia and Africa has been in use since the 6th century BC, due to Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus. The boundary between Europe and Asia is somewhat unusual among continental boundaries because of its largely mountain-and-river-based characteristics north, Europe can be considered more of a subcontinent within Eurasia in de facto terms, and it has sometimes been referred to as such. Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River in the Caucasus, a convention followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BC. The most common demarcation in atlases and other sources follows the Darién Mountains watershed divide along the Colombia-Panama border where the Isthmus of Panama meets the South American continent and this puts Panama entirely in North America and mainland Colombia entirely in South America. Iceland is on the line splitting the Northern Atlantic Ocean between the North American plate and the Eurasian plate
Transcontinental state
–
Contiguous transcontinental countries.
13.
Tributary state
–
The term tributary state refers to one of the two main ways in which a pre-modern state might be subordinate to a more powerful state. The heart of the relationship was that the tributary would send a token of submission to the superior power. This token often took the form of a transfer of wealth, such as the delivery of gold, produce, or slaves. John used to send annually to the Viceroy of Sicily in order to rule Malta and it might also involve attendance by the subordinate ruler at the court of the hegemon in order to make a public show of submission. Tributary relations involve no element of control or interference by the hegemon. At most, the hegemonic power might intervene in succession issues, for this reason, the extrapolation from pre-modern inter-state relations to the modern international system is problematic. For instance, Tributaries of Imperial China implies Chinese sovereign claim over territories not now regarded as Chinese, historically, the Emperor of China saw himself as the emperor of the entire civilized world. It was not possible for such an emperor to have diplomatic relations with any other power. Diplomatic missions and trading parties from non-Chinese regions were interpreted in Chinese records as being tributary, in Al Andalus, the last remaining Moorish Nasrid Dynasty in the Emirate of Granada paid tribute to the Christian Kingdom of Castile. Tributary states, usually on the periphery of the Ottoman Empire, were under vassalage in different forms, some were allowed to select their own leaders, while others paid tribute for their lands. In the Western colonial system, non-Western states were incorporated into a European empire as protectorates. In the Philippines, the Datus of the Barangays became vassals of the Spanish Empire and their right to rule was recognized by King Philip II of Spain, on 11 June 1594, under the condition of paying tributes due to the Spanish Crown. For modern forms of subordination, see puppet state, satellite state. Tribute Bunga mas Mandala Suzerainty Vassal state Puppet state Satellite state Client state
Tributary state
–
Bunga mas, a form of tribute sent to the King of
Siam from its vassal states in the
Malay Peninsula
14.
Unitary state
–
The majority of states in the world have a unitary system of government. Of the 193 UN member states,165 of them are governed as unitary states, unitary states are contrasted with federal states. In a unitary state, sub-national units are created and abolished, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an example of a unitary state. Many unitary states have no areas possessing a degree of autonomy, in such countries, sub-national regions cannot decide their own laws. Examples are the Republic of Ireland and the Kingdom of Norway, in federal states, the sub-national governments share powers with the central government as equal actors through a written constitution, to which the consent of both is required to make amendments. This means that the units have a right of existence. The United States of America is an example of a federal state, under the U. S. Constitution, powers are shared between the federal government and the states
Unitary state
–
Unitary states
15.
Thalassocracy
–
A thalassocracy is a state with primarily maritime realms, an empire at sea or a seaborne empire. Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their territories, Phoenician Tyre, Sidon and Carthage or Srivijaya. Compare to tellurocracy - land-based hegemony, the term thalassocracy can also simply refer to naval supremacy, in either military or commercial senses of the word supremacy. The Ancient Greeks first used the word thalassocracy to describe the government of the Minoan civilization, herodotus distinguishes sea-power from land-power and spoke of the need to counter the Phoenician thalassocracy by developing a Greek empire of the sea. There are many ancient examples besides those mentioned above, such as the Delian League, nearly contemporaneous, the Republic of Ragusa can be seen as a thalassocracy, a competitor to Venice. These include the variously Greek and Lombard duchies of Gaeta, Naples, Salerno, later, northern Italy developed its own trade empires based on Pisa and especially the powerful Republic of Genoa, that rivaled with Venice. It was with the age, the Age of Exploration. Anchored in their European territories, several nations established colonial empires held together by naval supremacy, with naval arms races and the end of colonialism and the granting of independence to these colonies, European thalassocracies, which had controlled the worlds oceans for centuries, ceased to be
Thalassocracy
–
The Phoenician trade routes in the Mediterranean.
16.
Administrative division
–
Administrative divisions are granted a certain degree of autonomy and are usually required to manage themselves through their own local governments. Countries are divided up into smaller units to make managing their land. For example, a country may be divided into provinces, which, in turn, are divided into counties, which, in turn, may be divided in whole or in part into municipalities, and so on. Administrative divisions are separate from dependent territories, with the former being an integral part of the state. However, the administrative division can include dependent territories as well as accepted administrative divisions. For clarity and convenience the standard reference for the largest administrative subdivision of a country is called the first-level administrative division or first administrative level. Next smaller is called second-level administrative division or second administrative level, there is no fixed rule, for all politics is local as is perhaps well demonstrated by their relative lack of systemic order. In the realm of self-government, any of these can and does occur along a stretch of road—which for the most part is passing through rural unsettled countryside. In British cultural legacy, most territorial entities begin with fairly expansive counties which encompass a large area. Within those entities are the large and small cities or towns, many sister cities share a water boundary which quite often serves as a border of both cities and counties. For example, Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts appear to the traveler as one large city, while locally they each are quite culturally different. Sovereign state, a national or supra-national division, country, a national or sub-national division. Administrative division codes of the Peoples Republic of China GADM, a database of country administrative areas. ISO 3166-2, specifically Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions — Part 2
Administrative division
–
World political divisions
17.
Democracy
–
Democracy, in modern usage, is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power directly or elect representatives from among themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament. Democracy is sometimes referred to as rule of the majority, Democracy was originally conceived in Classical Greece, where political representatives were chosen by a jury from amongst the male citizens, rich and poor. The English word dates to the 16th century, from the older Middle French, in the 5th century BC, to denote the political systems then existing in Greek city-states, notably Athens, the term is an antonym to aristocracy, meaning rule of an elite. While theoretically these definitions are in opposition, in practice the distinction has been blurred historically, the political system of Classical Athens, for example, granted democratic citizenship to free men and excluded slaves and women from political participation. In 1906, Finland became the first government to harald a more inclusive democracy at the national level. Democracy contrasts with forms of government where power is held by an individual, as in an absolute monarchy, or where power is held by a small number of individuals. Nevertheless, these oppositions, inherited from Greek philosophy, are now ambiguous because contemporary governments have mixed democratic, oligarchic, and monarchic elements. Karl Popper defined democracy in contrast to dictatorship or tyranny, thus focusing on opportunities for the people to control their leaders, No consensus exists on how to define democracy, but legal equality, political freedom and rule of law have been identified as important characteristics. These principles are reflected in all eligible citizens being equal before the law, other uses of democracy include that of direct democracy. In some countries, notably in the United Kingdom which originated the Westminster system, in the United States, separation of powers is often cited as a central attribute. In India, parliamentary sovereignty is subject to the Constitution of India which includes judicial review, though the term democracy is typically used in the context of a political state, the principles also are applicable to private organisations. Majority rule is listed as a characteristic of democracy. Hence, democracy allows for political minorities to be oppressed by the tyranny of the majority in the absence of legal protections of individual or group rights. An essential part of a representative democracy is competitive elections that are substantively and procedurally fair, i. e. just. It has also suggested that a basic feature of democracy is the capacity of all voters to participate freely and fully in the life of their society. While representative democracy is sometimes equated with the form of government. Many democracies are constitutional monarchies, such as the United Kingdom, the term democracy first appeared in ancient Greek political and philosophical thought in the city-state of Athens during classical antiquity. The word comes from demos, common people and kratos, strength, led by Cleisthenes, Athenians established what is generally held as the first democracy in 508–507 BC
Democracy
–
A woman casts her vote in the second round of the
2007 French presidential election.
Democracy
–
Cleisthenes, "father of
Athenian democracy ", modern bust.
Democracy
–
Magna Carta, 1215, England.
Democracy
–
The establishment of
universal male suffrage in France in 1848 was an important milestone in the history of democracy.
18.
Representative democracy
–
Representative democracy is a type of democracy founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people, as opposed to direct democracy. Representative democracy is often presented as the most efficient form of democracy possible in mass societies and it arguably allows for efficient ruling by a sufficiently small number of people on behalf of the larger number. Government efficiency can be judged based on metric of cost effectiveness, representatives voting on behalf of the people allows for a monetary benefit as there is lessened use of polling stations, vote counters, etc. The government is responsible for paying for the wages of the representatives. This system of governance is also time efficient as decisions can be made by a select few and it is a system in which people elect their lawmakers, who are then held accountable to them for their activity within government. It has been described by political theorists including Robert A Dahl, Gregory Houston. In it the power is in the hands of the representatives who are elected by the people in elections. Representatives are elected by the public, as in elections for the national legislature. Elected representatives may hold the power to other representatives, presidents, or other officers of the government or of the legislature. The constitution may also provide for some deliberative democracy or direct popular measures, however, these are not always binding and usually require some legislative action—legal power usually remains firmly with representatives. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him, their opinion, high respect, their business, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs, and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiassed opinion, his judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man. These he does not derive from your pleasure, no, nor from the law and they are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his only, but his judgment. The Roman Republic was the first government in the world to have a representative government. In Britain, Simon de Montfort is remembered as one of the fathers of representative government for holding two famous parliaments, the first, in 1258, stripped the King of unlimited authority and the second, in 1265, included ordinary citizens from the towns. Later, in the 17th century, the Parliament of England pioneered some of the ideas and systems of liberal democracy culminating in the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution led to the creation of a new Constitution of the United States in 1787
Representative democracy
–
Countries designated "electoral democracies" in Freedom House's 2015 survey "Freedom in the World", covering the year 2014.
19.
Liberal democracy
–
Liberal democracy is a liberal political ideology and a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principles of classical liberalism. It is also called western democracy, to define the system in practice, liberal democracies often draw upon a constitution, either formally written or uncodified, to delineate the powers of government and enshrine the social contract. After a period of sustained expansion throughout the 20th century, liberal democracy became the predominant political system in the world, a liberal democracy may take various constitutional forms, it may be a constitutional monarchy or a republic. It may have a system, a presidential system, or a semi-presidential system. Liberal democracies usually have universal suffrage, granting all citizens the right to vote regardless of race. Historically, however, some regarded as liberal democracies have had a more limited franchise. There may also be such as voters being required to register before being allowed to vote. The decisions made through elections are not by all of the citizens. The liberal democratic constitution defines the character of the state. The purpose of a constitution is seen as a limit on the authority of the government. Liberal democracy emphasises the separation of powers, an independent judiciary, Liberal democracies are likely to emphasise the importance of the state being a Rechtsstaat, i. e. a state that follows the principle of rule of law. Governmental authority is exercised only in accordance with written, publicly disclosed laws adopted and enforced in accordance with established procedure. In practice, democracies do have limits on certain freedoms, there are various legal limitations such as copyright and laws against defamation. There may be limits on speech, on attempts to undermine human rights. In the United States more than in Europe, during the Cold War, now they are more commonly applied to organisations perceived as promoting actual terrorism or the incitement of group hatred. Examples include anti-terrorism legislation, the shutting down of Hezbollah satellite broadcasts, critics claim that these limitations may go too far and that there may be no due and fair judicial process. The common justification for these limits is that they are necessary to guarantee the existence of democracy, for example, allowing free speech for those advocating mass murder undermines the right to life and security. Opinion is divided on how far democracy can extend to include the enemies of democracy in the democratic process, if relatively small numbers of people are excluded from such freedoms for these reasons, a country may still be seen as a liberal democracy
Liberal democracy
–
Eduskunta. Several nations and territories can present arguments for being the first with
universal suffrage. The
Grand Duchy of Finland had complete universal suffrage in 1906.
20.
Direct democracy
–
Direct democracy is a form of democracy in which people decide policy initiatives directly. This differs from the majority of democracies, which are representative democracies. Direct democracy is similar to, but distinct from, representative democracy, two leading forms of direct democracy are participatory democracy and deliberative democracy. Semi direct democracies in which representatives administer day-to-day governance, but the citizens remain the sovereign, the first two forms—referendums and initiatives—are examples of direct legislation. Compulsory referendum subjects the legislation drafted by political elites to a popular vote. This is the most common form of direct legislation, popular referendum empowers citizens to make a petition that calls existing legislation to a citizens vote. Institutions specify the frame for a valid petition and the number of signatures required. This form of direct democracy effectively grants the voting public a veto on laws adopted by the elected legislature, initiatives may be direct or indirect, With the direct initiative, a successful proposition is placed directly on the ballot to be subject to vote. Such a form of initiative is utilized by Switzerland for constitutional amendments. Power of Recall gives the public the power to elected officials from office before the end of their term. Some of the most important modern thinkers who were inspired by the concept of democracy are Cornelius Castoriadis, Hannah Arendt. The earliest known direct democracy is said to be the Athenian democracy in the 5th century BC, although it was not a democracy, women, foreigners. There were only about 30,000 male citizens, but several thousand of them were active in each year. Modern democracies, being representative, not direct, do not resemble the Athenian system, also relevant to the history of direct democracy is the history of Ancient Rome, specifically the Roman Republic, beginning around 509 BC. Rome displayed many aspects of democracy, both direct and indirect, from the era of Roman monarchy all the way to the collapse of the Roman Empire. As to direct democracy, the ancient Roman Republic had a system of citizen lawmaking, or citizen formulation and passage of law, and a citizen veto of legislature-made law. Many historians mark the end of the Republic with the passage of a law named the Lex Titia,27 November 43 BC, modern-era citizen lawmaking began in the towns of Switzerland in the 13th century. In 1847, the Swiss added the statute referendum to their national constitution and they soon discovered that merely having the power to veto Parliaments laws was not enough
Direct democracy
–
A
Landsgemeinde, or assembly, of the
Canton of Glarus, on 7 May 2006,
Switzerland.
Direct democracy
–
In
Switzerland, with no need to register, every citizen receives the
ballot papers and information brochure for each vote, and can return it by post. Switzerland has various directly democratic instruments; votes are organised about four times a year.
21.
Social democracy
–
In this period, social democrats embraced a mixed economy based on the predominance of private property, with only a minority of essential utilities and public services under public ownership. By 1868–1869, Marxism had become the official theoretical basis of the first social democratic party established in Europe, in this period, social democracy became associated with reformist socialism. The origins of social democracy have been traced to the 1860s, with the rise of the first major party in Europe. 1864 saw the founding of the International Workingmens Association, also known as the First International, another issue in the First International was the role of reformism. Although Lassalle was not a Marxist, he was influenced by the theories of Marx and Engels, however unlike Marxs and Engelss The Communist Manifesto, Lassalle promoted class struggle in a more moderate form. While Marx viewed the state negatively as an instrument of class rule that should only exist temporarily upon the rise to power of the proletariat and then dismantled, Lassalle accepted the state. Lassalle viewed the state as a means through which workers could enhance their interests, Lassalles strategy was primarily electoral and reformist, with Lassalleans contending that the working class needed a political party that fought above all for universal adult male suffrage. The ADAVs party newspaper was called Der Sozialdemokrat, Marx and Engels responded to the title Sozialdemocrat with distaste, Engels once writing, But what a title, Sozialdemokrat. Why dont they simply call it The Proletarian. Marx agreed with Engels that Sozialdemokrat was a bad title, there was a Marxist faction within the ADAV represented by Wilhelm Liebknecht who became one of the editors of the Die Sozialdemokrat. Friction in the ADAV arose over Lassalles policy of an approach to Bismarck that had assumed incorrectly that Bismarck in turn would be friendly towards them. This approach was opposed by the partys Marxists, including Liebknecht, opposition in the ADAV to Lassalles friendly approach to Bismarcks government resulted in Liebknecht resigning from his position as editor of Die Sozialdemokrat and leaving the ADAV in 1865. Though the SDAP was not officially Marxist, it was the first major organization to be led by Marxists and Marx. The party adopted stances similar to those adopted by Marx at the First International, there was intense rivalry and antagonism between the SDAP and the ADAV, with the SDAP being highly hostile to the Prussian government while the ADAV pursued a reformist and more cooperative approach. In spite of such militant rhetoric to appeal to the working class, in 1875 Marx attacked the Gotha Program that became the program of Social Democratic Party of Germany in the same year in his Critique of the Gotha Program. Marx was not optimistic that Germany at the time was not open to a means to achieve socialism. In addition he noticed a change over the relations between the two classes. The Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 make an approach to universal suffrage. The Fabian Society was founded as a group from the Fellowship of the New Life due to opposition within that group to socialism
Social democracy
–
Ferdinand Lassalle
Social democracy
–
The
red rose is a symbol of Social democracy.
Social democracy
–
A barricade in Paris in March 1871, set up by revolutionary forces of the
Paris Commune
Social democracy
–
George Bernard Shaw
22.
Athenian democracy
–
Other Greek cities set up democracies, most following the Athenian model, but none are as well documented as Athens. It was a system of democracy, in which participating citizens voted directly on legislation. The longest-lasting democratic leader was Pericles, after his death, Athenian democracy was twice briefly interrupted by oligarchic revolutions towards the end of the Peloponnesian War. It was modified somewhat after it was restored under Eucleides, the most detailed accounts of the system are of this fourth-century modification rather than the Periclean system, Democracy was suppressed by the Macedonians in 322 BC. The Athenian institutions were revived, but how close they were to a real democracy is debatable. Solon, Cleisthenes, and Ephialtes contributed to the development of Athenian democracy and he broke up the power of the nobility by organizing citizens into ten groups based on where they lived rather than on their wealth. The word democracy combines the elements dêmos and krátos, and thus means literally people power, in the words monarchy and oligarchy, the second element comes from archē, meaning beginning, and hence also first place or power, sovereignty. One might expect the term demarchy to have adopted, by analogy. However, the word demarchy had already taken and meant mayoralty. We are not certain that the democracy was extant when systems that came to be called democratic were first instituted. The word is attested in Herodotus, who some of the earliest surviving Greek prose. Around 460 BC an individual is known with the name of Democrates, a name possibly coined as a gesture of democratic loyalty, Athens was not the only polis in Ancient Greece that instituted a democratic regime. Aristotle cites many other cities as well, yet, it is only with reference to Athens that we can attempt to trace some of specific sixth century events that led to the institution of democracy at the end of the century. Before the first attempt at government, Athens was ruled by a series of archons or chief magistrates. The members of these institutions were generally aristocrats, who ruled the polis for their own advantage, in 621 BC Draco codified a set of notoriously harsh laws that were a clear expression of the power of the aristocracy over everybody else. This did not stop the aristocratic families feuding amongst themselves to obtain as much power as possible, however, the enfranchisement of the local laboring classes was succeeded by the development of chattel slavery, the enslavement of, in large part, foreigners. Solon, the mediator, reshaped the city by absorbing the traditional aristocracy in a definition of citizenship which allotted a political function to every resident of Attica. Athenians were not slaves but citizens, with the right, at the very least, under these reforms, the position of archon was opened to all with certain property qualifications, and a Boule, a rival council of 400, was set up
Athenian democracy
–
Cleisthenes.
Athenian democracy
–
Water Clock in the Ancient Agora of Athens.
23.
Multi-party system
–
First-past-the-post requires concentrated areas of support for large representation in the legislature whereas proportional representation better reflects the range of a populations views. Proportional systems have multi-member districts with more than one elected from a given district to the same legislative body. Duvergers Law states that the number of political parties is one plus the number of seats in a district. In these countries, usually no single party has a majority by itself. Instead, multiple political parties form coalitions for the purpose of developing power blocks for governing, a system where only two parties have the possibility of winning an election is called two-party system. A system where three parties have a realistic possibility of winning an election or forming a coalition is sometimes called a Third-party system. Usually this is because the electoral system penalises the third party, in the 2010 elections, the Liberal Democrats gained 23% of the total vote but won less than 10% of the seats due to the First-Past-The-Post electoral system. Despite this, they still had enough seats to form coalitions with one of the two parties, or to make deals in order to gain their support. An example is the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition formed after the 2010 general election, another is the Lib-Lab pact during Prime Minister James Callaghans Minority Labour Government, when Labour lost its three-seat majority in 1977, the pact fell short of a full coalition. Unlike a one-party system, a multi-party system encourages the general constituency to form distinct, officially recognized groups. Each party competes for votes from the enfranchised constituents, a multi-party system prevents the leadership of a single party from controlling a single legislative chamber without challenge. If the government includes an elected Congress or Parliament, the parties may share power according to proportional representation or the first-past-the-post system, in proportional representation, each party wins a number of seats proportional to the number of votes it receives. In first-past-the-post, the electorate is divided into a number of districts and this gravitation is known as Duvergers law. Proportional representation, on the hand, does not have this tendency. But, recent coalition governments, such as that in the U. K. represent two-party systems rather than multi-party systems and this is regardless of the number of parties in government. A two-party system requires voters to align themselves in large blocs, some theories argue that this allows centrists to gain control. On the other hand, if there are multiple parties, each with less than a majority of the vote. This also promotes centrism, as well as promoting coalition-building skills while discouraging polarization, coalition Polarized pluralism Political organisation Ingroups and outgroups
Multi-party system
–
Indian state governments led by various political parties and coalitions
24.
Separation of powers
–
The separation of powers, often imprecisely and metonymically used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The typical division of branches is into a legislature, an executive, and it can be contrasted with the fusion of powers in some parliamentary systems where the executive and legislature are unified. Separation of powers, therefore, refers to the division of responsibilities into distinct branches to any one branch from exercising the core functions of another. The intent is to prevent the concentration of power and provide for checks, aristotle first mentioned the idea of a mixed government or hybrid government in his work Politics where he drew upon many of the constitutional forms in the city-states of Ancient Greece. In the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate, Consuls and the Assemblies showed an example of a government according to Polybius. John Calvin favoured a system of government that divided political power between democracy and aristocracy, Calvin appreciated the advantages of democracy, stating, It is an invaluable gift if God allows a people to elect its own government and magistrates. In this way, Calvin and his followers resisted political absolutism, Calvin aimed to protect the rights and the well-being of ordinary people. In 1620, a group of English separatist Congregationalists and Anglicans founded Plymouth Colony in North America, enjoying self-rule, they established a bipartite democratic system of government. Massachusetts Bay Colony, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, books like William Bradfords History of Plymoth Plantation were widely read in England. So the form of government in the colonies was well known in the mother country, the term tripartite system is ascribed to French Enlightenment political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu described the separation of power among a legislature, an executive. Montesquieus approach was to present and defend a form of government which was not excessively centralized in all its powers to a monarch or similar ruler. He based this model on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, Montesquieu took the view that the Roman Republic had powers separated so that no one could usurp complete power. In the British constitutional system, Montesquieu discerned a separation of powers among the monarch, Parliament, Montesquieu did actually specify that the independence of the judiciary has to be real, and not apparent merely. The judiciary was generally seen as the most important of powers, independent and unchecked, typically this was accomplished through a system of checks and balances, the origin of which, like separation of powers itself, is specifically credited to Montesquieu. Constitutions with a degree of separation of powers are found worldwide. The UK system is distinguished by a particular entwining of powers, a number of Latin American countries have electoral branches of government. Countries with little separation of power include New Zealand and Canada, Canada makes limited use of separation of powers in practice, although in theory it distinguishes between branches of government
Separation of powers
–
Hans Kelsen was the principal author of the tripartite Constitution of Austria and the Constitution of Czechoslovakia.
Separation of powers
–
Montesquieu
Separation of powers
–
George Washington at
Constitutional Convention of 1787, signing of U.S. Constitution
25.
Westminster system
–
The Westminster system is a parliamentary system of government modelled after that which developed in the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the British parliament, the system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature. However, some colonies have since adopted either the presidential system or a hybrid system as their form of government. Examples include Queen Elizabeth II, the governors-general in Commonwealth realms, or the presidents of many countries, exceptions to this are Ireland and Israel, whose presidents are de jure and de facto ceremonial, and the latter possesses no reserve powers whatsoever. A head of government, known as the minister, premier. While the head of state appoints the head of government, constitutional convention suggests that a majority of elected Members of Parliament must support the person appointed. If more than half of elected parliamentarians belong to the political party. An exception to this was Israel, in which direct prime-ministerial elections were made in 1996,1999 and 2001, an independent, non-partisan civil service which advises on, and implements, decisions of those ministers. Civil servants hold permanent appointments and can expect merit-based selection processes, a parliamentary opposition with an official Leader of the Opposition. A legislature, often bicameral, with at least one elected house – although unicameral systems also exist, a lower house of parliament with an ability to dismiss a government by withholding Supply, passing a motion of no confidence, or defeating a confidence motion. The Westminster system enables a government to be defeated or forced into a general election independently, a parliament which can be dissolved and snap elections called at any time. Another parallel system of principles also exists known as equity. Exceptions to this include India, Quebec in Canada, and Scotland in the UK amongst others which mix common law with legal systems. Unlike the uncodified British constitution, most countries use the Westminster system have codified the system, at least in part. The pattern of executive functions within a Westminster System is quite complex, in essence, the head of state, usually a monarch or president, is a ceremonial figurehead who is the theoretical, nominal or de jure source of executive power within the system. In practice, such a figure does not actively exercise executive powers, in the United Kingdom, the sovereign theoretically holds executive authority, even though the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Cabinet effectively implement executive powers. In a parliamentary republic like India, the President is the de jure executive, even though executive powers are essentially instituted by the Prime Minister of India and the Council of Ministers. In Israel, however, executive power is vested de jure and de facto in the cabinet, as an example, the Prime Minister and Cabinet generally must seek the permission of the head of state when carrying out executive functions
Westminster system
–
The
British Houses of Parliament are situated within the Palace of Westminster, in London
Westminster system
–
Parliament House, Canberra, Australia
Westminster system
–
The Sansad Bhavan (Parliament House) building in New Delhi, India
Westminster system
–
The Parliament building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
26.
Rule of law
–
The rule of law is the legal principle that law should govern a nation, as opposed to being governed by arbitrary decisions of individual government officials. It primarily refers to the influence and authority of law within society, particularly as a constraint upon behaviour, including behaviour of government officials. The phrase can be traced back to 16th century Britain, John Locke defined freedom under the rule of law as follows, “Freedom is constrained by laws in both the state of nature and political society. Freedom of nature is to be no other restraint but the law of nature. Freedom of people under government is to be under no restraint apart from standing rules to live by that are common to everyone in the society and made by the lawmaking power established in it. Persons have a right or liberty to follow their own will in all things that the law has not prohibited and not be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, and arbitrary wills of others. ”The rule of law was further popularized in the 19th century by British jurist A. V. Dicey. The concept, if not the phrase, was familiar to ancient philosophers such as Aristotle, Rule of law implies that every citizen is subject to the law, including lawmakers themselves. In this sense, it stands in contrast to an autocracy, dictatorship, Government based upon the rule of law is called nomocracy. In the West, the ancient Greeks initially regarded the best form of government as rule by the best men, Plato advocated a benevolent monarchy ruled by an idealized philosopher king, who was above the law. More than Plato attempted to do, Aristotle flatly opposed letting the highest officials wield power beyond guarding and serving the laws, according to the Roman statesman Cicero, We are all servants of the laws in order that we may be free. During the Roman Republic, controversial magistrates might be put on trial when their terms of office expired, under the Roman Empire, the sovereign was personally immune, but those with grievances could sue the treasury. In contrast, the Huang-Lao school of Daoism rejected legal positivism in favor of a law that even the ruler would be subject to. There has recently been an effort to reevaluate the influence of the Bible on Western constitutional law, according to Professor Bernard M. Levinson, This legislation was so utopian in its own time that it seems never to have been implemented. The Deuteronomic social vision may have influenced opponents of the right of kings. In Islamic jurisprudence rule of law was formulated in the century, so that no official could claim to be above the law. However, this was not a reference to law. Alfred the Great, Anglo-Saxon King of the 9th century, reformed the law of his kingdom and created a law code with the biblical Mosaic law and he ruled that justice had to be equal between people, whether rich or poor, friends or enemies. This was likely inspired from Leviticus 19, You shall do no injustice in judgment and you shall not be partial to the poor, nor defer to the great
Rule of law
–
Mosaic representing both the judicial and legislative aspects of law. The woman on the throne holds a sword to chastise the guilty and a
palm branch to reward the meritorious.
Glory surrounds her head, and the
aegis of
Minerva signifies the armor of righteousness and wisdom.
27.
Corporatocracy
–
Corporatocracy /ˌkɔːrpərəˈtɒkrəsi/, is a recent term used to refer to an economic and political system controlled by corporations or corporate interests. It is most often used today as a term to describe the current economic situation in a particular country and this is different from corporatism, which is the organisation of society into groups with common interests. Corporatocracy as a term is used by observers across the political spectrum. Economist Jeffrey Sachs described the United States as a corporatocracy in The Price of Civilization and this collective is what author C Wright Mills in 1956 called the power elite, wealthy individuals who hold prominent positions in corporatocracies. They control the process of determining a societys economic and political policies, the concept has been used in explanations of bank bailouts, excessive pay for CEOs, as well as complaints such as the exploitation of national treasuries, people, and natural resources. It has been used by critics of globalization, sometimes in conjunction with criticism of the World Bank or unfair lending practices, as well as criticism of free trade agreements. Edmund Phelps published an analysis in 2010 theorizing that the cause of inequality is not free market capitalism. Corporatization, in his view, is the antithesis of free market capitalism, the primary effects of corporatization are the consolidation of economic power and wealth with end results being the attrition of entrepreneurial and free market dynamism. In the United States, several of the described by Phelps are apparent.1 percent of income distribution. Whom Paul Krugman describes as super-elites – corporate bigwigs and financial wheeler-dealers, who earn $2,000,000 or more every year. Corporate power can also increase income inequality, the government lent money to financial institutions at close to zero percent interest and provided generous bailouts on favorable terms when all else failed. Regulators turned an eye to a lack of transparency and to conflicts of interest. Stiglitz explained that the top 1% got nearly one-quarter of the income, measured relative to GDP, total compensation and its component wages and salaries have been declining since 1970. This indicates a shift in income from labor to capital, wages and salaries have fallen from approximately 51% GDP in 1970 to 43% GDP in 2013. Total compensation has fallen from approximately 58% GDP in 1970 to 53% GDP in 2013, to put this in perspective, five percent of U. S. GDP was approximately $850 billion in 2013. This represents an additional $7,000 in compensation for each of the 120 million U. S. households. Larry Summers estimated in 2007 that the lower 80% of families were receiving $664 billion less income than they would be with a 1979 income distribution, or approximately $7,000 per family. Further, since lower income families tend to spend more of their income than higher income families
Corporatocracy
–
Protester holding
Adbusters Corporate American Flag at Bush's 2nd inauguration,
Washington DC.
Corporatocracy
–
Labor's share of GDP has declined 1970 to 2013, measured based on total compensation as well as salaries & wages. This implies capital's share is increasing.
28.
Geniocracy
–
Geniocracy is the framework for a system of government which was first proposed by Raël in 1977 and which advocates problem-solving and creative intelligence as criteria for governance. The term geniocracy comes from the genius, and describes a system that is designed to select for intelligence. The thresholds proposed by the Raëlians are 50% above the mean for an electoral candidate and this method of selectivity is deliberate so as to address what the concept considers to be flaws in the current systems of democracy. The primary object of criticism is the inability of majoritarian consensus to provide a platform for intelligent decision making for the purpose of solving problems permanently. In this respect, Geniocracy derides Liberal Democracy as a form of Mediocracy, in a geniocracy Earth would be ruled by a worldwide Geniocratic government. In line with this, geniocracy proposes a different economic model called Economic Humanitarianism, primarily, this discrimination is against minors, incarcerated felons, and the mentally incapacitated. This is on the basis that their ability to contribute to the making process is either flawed or invalid for the purpose of the society. The current difficulty in the ideas of geniocracy is that the means of assessing intelligence are ill-defined and they should be designed to measure intellectual potential rather than accumulation of knowledge. Other components deemed necessary for a rounded understanding of intelligence include concepts like emotional intelligence. As such, geniocracys validity cannot really be assessed until better, the lack of scientific rigour necessary for inclusion of geniocracy as properly testable political ideology can be noted in number of modern and historical dictatorships as well as oligarchies. Because of the controversies surrounding geniocracy, Raël presents the idea as a utopia or provocative ideal. The author of Geniocracy recommends a world government with 12 regions, inhabitants would vote for which region they want to be part of. After the regions are defined, they are divided into 12 sectors after the same principle of democracy is applied. While sectors of the region are defined as having equal numbers of inhabitants, the regions themselves may have different levels of population. Idiocracy, a comedy film depicting the United States in 2505 where the vast majority are mentally backwards despite widespread use of IQ tests. Platos Republic Meritocracy Netocracy Noocracy Transhumanism Technocracy Palmer, Susan J. Geniocracy, Geniocracy. org Geniocracy Review on RaelNews Geniocracy piece on RaelRadio Geniocracy is the solution - article on Raelnews
Geniocracy
–
A
series of articles on the
Raëlian Movement
Geniocracy
–
The book cover of
Rael 's book Geniocracy: Government of the People, for the People, by the Geniuses (Printed for the first time in English: 2008 Nova Distribution.)
29.
Theocracy
–
Theocracy is a form of government in which a deity is the source from which all authority derives. The Oxford English Dictionary has this definition,1, a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god. The commonwealth of Israel from the time of Moses until the election of Saul as King, an ecclesiocracy is a situation where the religious leaders assume a leading role in the state, but do not claim that they are instruments of divine revelation. For example, the prince-bishops of the European Middle Ages, where the bishop was also the temporal ruler, religiously endorsed monarchies fall between theocracy and ecclesiocracy, according to the relative strengths of the religious and political organs. Most forms of theocracy are oligarchic in nature, involving rule of the many by the few, some of whom so anointed under claim of divine commission. In some religions, the ruler, usually a king, was regarded as the favorite of God who could not be questioned, sometimes even being the descendant of. Today, there is also a form of government where clerics have the power, taken literally or strictly, theocracy means rule by God or gods and refers primarily to an internal rule of the heart, especially in its biblical application. The common, generic use of the term, as defined above in terms of rule by a church or analogous religious leadership, in a pure theocracy, the civil leader is believed to have a personal connection with the civilizations religion or belief. For example, Moses led the Israelites, and Muhammad led the early Muslims, there is a fine line between the tendency of appointing religious characters to run the state and having a religious-based government. According to the Holy Books, Prophet Joseph was offered an essential governmental role just because he was trustworthy, wise and knowledgeable. As a result of the Prophet Josephs knowledge and also due to his ethical and genuine efforts during a critical economic situation, when religions have a holy book, it is used as a direct message from God. Law proclaimed by the ruler is also considered a divine revelation, as to the Prophet Muhammad ruling, The first thirteen of the Prophets twenty-three year career went on totally apolitical and non-violent. Yet, interestingly, the Prophet did not establish a theocracy in Medina, instead of a polity defined solely by Islam, he founded a territorial polity based on religious pluralism. This is evident in a document called the ’Charter of Medina’, according to the Quran, Prophets were not after power or material resources. ”While, in theocracy many aspects of the holy book are overshadowed by material powers. Due to be considered divine, the regime entitles itself to interpret verses to its own benefit and abuse them out of the context for its political aims. An ecclesiocracy, on the hand, is a situation where the religious leaders assume a leading role in the state. For example, the prince-bishops of the European Middle Ages, where the bishop was also the temporal ruler, religiously endorsed monarchies fall between these two poles, according to the relative strengths of the religious and political organs. Theocracy is distinguished from other, secular forms of government that have a religion, or are influenced by theological or moral concepts
Theocracy
–
Caesar Augustus as Jove incarnate. The Roman Empire was, before
Constantine, a quasi-theocracy. Opinion in both late antiquity and later history, however, regards negatively
Emperors, such as
Caligula and
Domitian, who assumed that dignity in life. [
citation needed] By contrast, each
Pharaoh of Egypt, as
Horus incarnate, son of Amun-Ra, Osiris in death, etc. (as in other cultures) was held to be a living god.
30.
Two-party system
–
A two-party system is a party system where two major political parties dominate the government. One of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is referred to as the majority or governing party while the other is the minority or opposition party. Around the world, the term has different senses, in such arrangements, two-party systems are thought to result from various factors like winner takes all election rules. The reasons why a country with free elections will evolve into a two-party system have been debated, a leading theory, referred to as Duvergers law, states that two parties are a natural result of a winner-take-all voting system. There is general agreement that the United States has a two-party system, historically, in the First Party System, only Alexander Hamiltons Federalist Party and Thomas Jeffersons Democratic-Republican Party were significant political parties. Toward the end of the First Party System, the Republicans dominated a one-party system, under the Second Party System, the Democratic-Republican Party split during the election of 1824 into Adams Men and Jacksons Men. In 1828, the modern Democratic Party formed in support of Andrew Jackson, the National Republicans were formed in support of John Quincy Adams. After the National Republicans collapsed, the Whig Party and the Free Soil Party quickly formed and collapsed, in 1854, the modern Republican Party formed from a loose coalition of former Whigs, Free Soilers and other anti-slavery activists. Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican president in 1860, during the Third Party System, the Republican Party was the dominant political faction, but the Democrats held a strong, loyal coalition in the Solid South. During the Fourth Party System, the Republicans remained the dominant Presidential party, although Democrats Grover Cleveland, in 1932, at the onset of the Fifth Party System, Democrats took firm control of national politics with the landslide victories of Franklin D. Roosevelt in four consecutive elections. Other than the two terms of Republican Dwight Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961, Democrats retained firm control of the Presidency until the mid-1960s. In the election of 2012, only 4% separated the popular vote between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, although Obama won the vote by a landslide. Throughout every American party system, no party has won a Presidential election or majorities in either house of Congress. Despite that, third parties and third party candidates have gained traction, in the election of 1912, Theodore Roosevelt won 27% of the popular vote and 88 electoral votes running as a Progressive. In the 1992 Presidential election, Ross Perot won 19% of the popular vote, sometimes these systems are described as two-party systems but they are usually referred to as multi-party systems. There is not always a sharp boundary between a two-party system and a multi-party system, Democrats in the United States and the Conservative Party vs. the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Other parties in these countries may have seen candidates elected to local or subnational office, historian John Hicks claims that the United States has never possessed for any considerable period of time the two party system in its pure and undefiled form. In some governments, certain chambers may resemble a two-party system, for example, the politics of Australia are largely two-party for the Australian House of Representatives, which is elected by instant-runoff voting, known within Australia as preferential voting
Two-party system
–
In a two-party system, voters have mostly two options; in this sample ballot for an election in
Summit,
New Jersey, voters can choose between a Republican or Democrat, but there are no third party candidates.
Two-party system
–
Economist
Jeffrey D. Sachs.
Two-party system
–
Equestrian portrait of William III by
Jan Wyck, commemorating the landing at Brixham, Torbay, 5 November 1688
Two-party system
–
In A Block for the Wigs (1783),
James Gillray caricatured Fox's return to power in a coalition with North. George III is the blockhead in the center.
