Classifications of Governments: PGC Substitute Lecture for 1LIT2, 1CA2 and 1CA4

Governments can be classified in several ways.  De Leon provides 5 ways to classify, and the Philippine government, under the 1987 Constitution, can be described using the kinds of government under these classes.

The five classifications are: 

1. According to the number of rulers.
2. According to the extent of power exercised by the national / central government.
3. According to the relationship between the executive and legislative branches.
4. According to the nature and origin of power.
5. According to the identity or non-identity of the state and government with the people.

Each of the above classes has different kinds of of government under them.  Let us identify them.

According to the number of rulers.

Aristotle in ancient Greece classified governments based on the number of rulers.  He also made a distinction regarding the quality of rule (good/pure or corrupt/bad).

• Monarchy, from ancient Greek mono = one, and archos=ruler.  The government under one ruler as in the times of the Pharoah of Egypt, the Kings and Queens of France and England.
• Aristocracy, rule by the few.  Aristos=best, and kratos=power.  As proposed by Plato, Aristotle's senior, the rulership of the few which is composed of the best or most capable members of the community. 
• Oligarchy, rule by the rich.  From Greek Oligos=wealthy.  The corrupt version of Aristocracy. 
• Democracy, rule by the many.  Demos=the people.  The form of government wherein all members have the right to participate in governance whether by directly ruling or by voicing out their concerns.
• Tyranny is the corrupt verson of monarchy.  From Greek tyrannos=terrible) is the government under a single terrible/oppressive ruler.

According to the extent of power exercised by the national / central government.

This way of classification identifies delegation of powers by the constitution.  There are two ways.

• Unitary - when the constitution concentrates all powers to the national government (President, congress) or first delegates powers to the national and leaves some for the national to give to the local. The local governments (provinces, cities) are reliant to the central government.
• Federal - when the constitution distributes or delegates governmental powers between the national and the local.  E.g. In the United States.  The national, called 'federal government', has power over printing of currency, command over military, and handling foreign relations. While each local government ('states' - State of California, State of New York) has power to determine THEIR OWN taxes, marriage policy, etc.        

According to the relationship between the executive and legislative branches.

There are three general or basic powers to govern.  The power to make laws - legislative.  To administer that the laws are observed - executive.  And to interpret the law as it applies to the actions of people (if they violated or obeyed the law) - judicial.  All three powers held by one person or office  lead to abuses by rulers.  Charles de Secondat, the baron of Montesquieu, proposed that all 3 be separated and given to 3 separate branches or agencies.  Each co-equal to the other, no interference, and with checks to guard the abuses of the others.  These agencies were the Executive (Head of State/Government), Legislative (congress or parliament) and Judicial (courts) branches. 

The courts have the essence of always being neutral and by nature passive - it only acts on questions set before them.  No question, no answer.  But the other two are active, legislature makes laws to keep up with modernity, executive should never cease to implement the law. The relationship of these two branches determine whether a government is:

• Presidential - all three powers and branches are separate.  The President is both Head of State (symbol of the state/symbolic head) and Head of Government (actual person who leads the administration).
• Parliamentary - the two active branches (executive and legislature are fused as one.  Such as in Great Britain.  The legislative branch is called 'parliament', The people elect members of parliament called 'ministers'.  After they are elected, all ministers will then elect from among them a 'Prime Minister' who then becomes the head of government.  The head of state is the Monarch currently a Queen (Elizabeth I) who has little powers in government other than being recognized as symbol of the state.  

According to the nature and origin of power.

Power can have two ways to determine source:

• Elected - the power to rule comes from the people choosing who should rule them.
• Hereditary - the power to rule is passed from generation to generation in the blood line of a family.  There are two ways to determine hereditary passing of rule.  a. Primogeniture (heirs are from eldest child to youngest, then eldest next of kin).  and b. Ultimogeniture (youngest to eldest child, then next of kin).  Sometimes this is restricted by gender, e.g. only males, only females.  

According to the identity or non-identity of the state and government with the people.
There are two kinds of democracy.  This distinction differentiates the government's identity with the people.

• Primary - also called direct democracy.  In a small territory, direct democracy can be practiced with every quaslified citizen participating in the deliberations of government.  This was the original democracy as was done in Athens.  The people and government are one. 
• Republic - but its not easy to have direct governance by the people when the territory is large with also a large number of qualified participants.  To make this run smoothly, there is indirect democracy.  The people elect representatives to become members of government tu rule in their place.  Here the government is accountable to the people.