1. Democracy A Multidimensional Concept

2. The Government Component A society’s “government” refers to the institutions, structures, and laws that are created to make and enforce common decisions and to establish order in society. Who will make decisions? What authority or powers will the government have and not have? What individual liberties and protections from the government will individuals have? There are many different forms of government that provide a wide array of answers to these questions.

3. Forms of Government One Person Rules Autocracy A Small Group Rules Oligarchy The People Rule Democracy Nobody Rules Anarchy

4. Autocracy (One Person Rule) Examples – Monarchy (King, Queen, Emporer)  Saudi Arabia: King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud  Oman: Qaboos bin Said Al Said  Qatar: Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani – Dictatorship  Cameroon: Paul Biya  Democratic Republic of the Congo: Denis Sassou Nguesso  North Korea: Kim Jong-Il  Syria: Bashar Hafez al-Assad  Cuba: Fidel/Raul Castro  Burma: Than Shwe  Sudan: Omar Al-Bashir  Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe  North Korea: Kim Jong-un

5. Oligarchy (Rule by a Small Group) Examples  Military Dictatorship (rule by the military) China: The Communist Party (not Hu Jintao) Fiji: Military Forces (not Commodore Frank Bainimarama)  Theocracy (rule by religious hierarchy) The Vatican: The Roman Catholic Church/Pope Benedict XVI Iran: Islamic Assembly of Experts/Ayatollah Khamenei  Aristocracy (rule by some elite group or class) Nowhere ? Everywhere?

6. Anarchy (Nobody Rules) Anarchy is only a temporary condition, until some person or group assumes control and imposes rules. Anarchy generally occurs when an existing government falls apart or is destroyed.  Iraq: ‘temporarily’ after the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003  Somalia: throughout much of the last 20 years “Anarchists” are an active force in many places in the US and the world today.

7. Democracy (Rule by the People) Examples  Direct Democracy  California: The referendum, initiative, and recall  Representative) Democracy  United States: Two-Party Democracy  Australia: Proportional Democracy

8. World Map of Democracy 2010 by Freedom House

9. An Anylitical Look at Democracy In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as “government of the people, by the people, for the people” What conditions or structures or practices are required in a strong, genuine democracy? 1._______________________ 2._______________________ 3._______________________ 4._______________________ 5._______________________

10. The Essential Elements of Democracy Just One View