Of The Country's People ++

This selection tackles the common types of Government. Opinions and addendum are very much welcome.

According to Justice William O. Douglas of the United States Supreme Court, the Government is the most advanced of human relations. It dispenses the various services that the complexities of civilization require or make desirable. It is designed to keep in balance the various competing forces present in any society to satisfy the dominant contemporary demand made upon it. As a result, it serves a high purpose; it is the cohesive quality in civilization.

A country can stand on its own but, its rules and harmony needs to be maintained and regulated. With these, the presence of what we call GOVERNMENT is needed.

But, it is not enough to know that there exists a government. It is also a-must know what type of government we are under. Generally, we have governments by one person, by the few, by the many and institutional types of government.

A monarchy is a form of government where the ruler is a monarch who comes from a royal family. A monarch exercises absolute power. He wields executive, legislative and judicial powers. The monarchy can also be limited. In the limited type of monarchy, the monarch is willing to part some of his powers and to delegate them with some government agencies. Limited monarchy is rated the best form of government. It worked most effectively because the monarch, under constitutional rule, guaranteed that policies needed to maximize political, social and economic stability were implemented.

Dictatorship is a form of government ruled by a person who comes from military or civilian class. During period of stress, the people would vest the responsibility to a military commander but an ambitious dictator could insist that the emergency still exists. Totalitarianism, a type of dictatorship is extreme type.

Aristocracy implies that the aristocrats—or its rulers—are presumably men of the highest intelligence and integrity. Plato, in his Republic viewed the ideal state as governed by wise and devoted rulers.

Oligarchy is also a government by the wealthy few but they do not come from nobility like the aristocrats. They believe that the most important requisites to the claim of power are wealth, good social position and wealth.

The word ‘Democracy’ is derived from the Greek word ‘demos’ which means ‘people’ and ‘kratia’ or ‘kratos’ to rule. In other words, democracy means that the people will rule or on the words of the great American president, “a government by the people, of the people and for the people.” This is an ideal democracy which people everywhere are striving to attain.

A Unitary Government—a type of institutional government – concentrates its governmental powers in one organ, the central of national government to which the constituents or the local government units owe their existence which they derive their powers and functions.

A federal government is one in which government powers are distributed from the central government down to its local government units as specified by the constitution of the state.

Meanwhile, the Presidential system is a system where the executive power is exercised by a single president elected by popular vote. He holds office for a specific period of time as fixed by the constitution of the state.

The Parliamentary System is a form of government where the executive power belongs to the Prime Minister and his cabinet. They are the leaders of the majority party in the parliament and they remain in office as long as they enjoy the trust, support and confidence of the majority.

It is evident that we can rely our trust in any of these types of government in accordance to what our country needs but the government is not the heart f any country but the center of it is its people.

Remember: “When confidence of the people is lost, the government is also lost.” – Confucius