1. Autocratic, Oligarchic, and Democratic Governments
3 Ways Governments Determine Citizen Participation in Government

2. Autocratic Governments
Government in which one person possesses unlimited power and the citizen has little if any role in the government.
Can not participate in elections or selecting the ruler
Rulers are dictators

3. Examples of Autocratic governments
Cuba, North Korea, Iraq under Saddam Hussein

4. Oligarchic Government
Government by a few, sometimes a government in which a small group exercises control often for corrupt and selfish purposes. The citizen has a very limited role.
Ruler is elected from a group of wealthy, landowners, or people who have the military support

5. Examples of Oligarchic governments
Iran-theocracy-small religious group rules
Certain African countries

6. Democratic Governments
Government by the people in which the supreme power is held by the people and exercised directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held FREE elections.

7. “Democracy is of the people, for the people and by the people.”
Abraham Lincoln

8. Characteristics of Democracy
Sovereignty of the people
Government based upon consent of the governed
Majority rule but minority has rights
Guarantee of basic human rights
Free and fair elections
Equality before the law
Due process of law
Constitutional limits on government

9. Two Types of Democracy
1. Presidential: A system of government in which the president is constitutionally independent of the legislature.
** The president is elected by the people of the country and not the legislature

10. Two Types of Democracy
2. Parliamentary: A system of government where the elected representatives choose the leader of the country instead of the people. The leader (sometimes called the prime minister) answers to the legislature.

11. Parliamentary System Presidential System Legislature-lawmaking body
President-Leader
President is elected
Legislature and President serve for a fixed amount of time
President does not make the laws
President is the head of state and chief executive
Prime Minster –leader, heads Parliament, the law making body
Parliament selects Prime Minister
Prime Minister can dissolve Parliament
May have a head of state with little power – King or Queen
Citizens elect lawmakers
Leader heads the military & runs the government