1. What If…You Had the Power If you were the leader of a country, what kind of rulings would you make? What kind of political powers would you let the people of your country have?

2. Who Has the Power in Different Governments? Autocracy vs. Oligarchy vs. Democracy

3. Autocracy: One Person Only one person has all the power in making decisions for the people. Government Forms: 1. Dictatorship Examples: Germany’s Hitler, U.S.S.R.’s Stalin 2. Absolute Monarchy – one king in power with complete control Examples: France’s King Louis XVI, Spain’s King Ferdinand

4. Oligarchy: A Small Group Only a few people in a small group of royalty, wealth, family, or military influence make political decisions for the country’s people. Government Forms: Communism – a small group controls all the economic resources and government Examples: former Soviet Union, Cuba, China

5. Democracy: The Citizens The citizens have a say in their government by voting in elections. Most democracies today are republics, where the people elect leaders to represent them in the government. Most countries in the world are democracies.

6. Presidential Democracy a government in which the executive, legislative, and judicial branches are separate The citizens vote for the leader of the country, the president, who serves in the executive branch. Example: U.S.A.

7. Parliamentary Democracy a government where voters elect representatives to a lawmaking body called parliament Parliament members then select the leader, usually called the prime minister. The prime minister is the national political leader, and another figure serves as the head of state, like a constitutional monarch. Examples: United Kingdom, Canada

8. Constitutional Monarchy a government that has a constitution that allows a king or queen to be the official head of state, but elected officials run the government Examples: United Kingdom, Spain

9. Bibliography "political systems." Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. 6 Mar. 2009.http://www.school.eb.com.proxygsu- sgwi.galileo.usg.edu/elementary/article?articleId=390910 The World and Its People. McGraw-Hill Companies: Columbus, OH. 2005