Power, Authority, and Constraint The state is In defined as the legal authority that imposes its will by means of law. Power is NOT the same as Authority. Authority is the legitimate exercise of power. In democratic societies, power is legitimized through the vote. The legal rules that comprise a state’s legal; system have the power to constrain. Citizens are required to obey the laws and are held accountable when they break them

Forms of Government The main forms of government are Monarchies and Republics. Both appeared in Antiquity. In a monarchy, the head of state is the monarch. The monarch usually rules by hereditary right. Most modern monarchies are parliamentary, constitutional monarchies. Actual power is exercised by the parliament or the government. The monarch plays a largely symbolic role. In a republic, the head is state is a president (usually) elected for a finite period of time.

Political Regimes Political regimes designate the characteristics whereby political power is exercised and whereby states are different from one another. For example, a republic may be a democratic, authoritarian, or even totalitariqn regime.

Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes The terms totalitarianism was inspired by the example of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union under Stalin In totalitarian regimes, the state seeks to exercise total control over society. Authoritarian regimes, by contrast, do allow a limited number of freedoms as long as the regime’s monopoly on political power is not challenged

Democratic Regimes Democracies may exist either in republics or in monarchies. Most contemporary democracies are liberal-democracies, that is they are based not just on people power but also individual freedom In liberal democracies, there is a real separation of state powers (judicial, legislative, executive) In liberal democracies power changes regularly by means of the vote. Citizens have the opportunity to participate in public decisions.