1. Major Types of Government Au tocracy - Rule by one person Oligarchy - Rule by a few persons Democracy - rule by many persons

2. Different types of Autocracy Mo narchy - rule by a king, queen or emperor Monarch's powers are often limited Dictatorship - rule by dictate (the word of the dictator) Rule by force and often these rulers are military rulers Totalitarianism - total rule of everything Attempts to control the total society

3. Oligarchy Ru le by a few Usually come to power because of wealth, social position, military power or a combination of these things Sometimes oligarchs attempt to make it look like the people have more say in how things are run by having elections, but these elections are rigged so that the oligarchs always win

4. Democracy Fr om the Greek words: Demos = the people Kratia = rule Direct Democracy - each citizen votes directly on issues Representative Democracy - citizens elect representatives to make decisions

5. Characteristics of Democracy In dividual Liberty Majority Rule with Minority Rights Free Elections Competing Political Parties Democrats and Republicans

6. Essential elements of Democracy Ev en if all of the characteristics of democracy are present there are still other things that are required to make democracy work Citizen Participation Citizens must be involved A Favorable Economy Need a large middle class Widespread Education People have to be able to learn about the issues Strong Civil Society Groups that take an active part A Social Consensus A shared sense of how things should work

7. Do Noise Ordinances Infringe on First Amendment Rights? On e way we reach social consensus in the United States is through the decisions of the Supreme Court. The supreme Court listens to cases where one person's freedom conflicts with another person's freedom. Read the case Ward vs Rock Against Racism on page 25. What do you think the Supreme Court decided in this case? The Court found that the city had a substantial interest in limiting excessive noise and the regulation was "content neutral". The court found that "narrow tailoring" would be satisfied so long as the regulation promoted a substantial government interest that would be achieved less effectively absent the regulation.