Questions about the forms and methods of government worried even the ancient Greeks. History during this time has accumulated enormous material to highlight the various forms and types of political regimes. Their features, classification features and options will be discussed in the article.
Form of government
State power is necessary for society to function successfully. The society is not capable of self-organization, therefore, it always delegates power and management functions to someone. Even ancient philosophers found that forms of government can be: the power of one, the power of the few or the power of many or the majority. Each form has different variations. The form of government, the form of government, the state regime are the links of one chain. From the form of government, particularities of political and administrative management in the country follow, which, in turn, can be implemented in a different political regime. A form of government is a way of organizing a system of state power. It determines the nature and characteristics of the political process in the country. The first traditional forms of government are the monarchy and the republic. Moreover, each of them allows you to set different modes of government. This is a despotic, aristocratic, absolutist, authoritarian, military-bureaucratic, totalitarian, fascist and many others. The state regime depends on the influence of many factors, primarily on who owns the power. The role of the individual in the state system is extremely high.
The concept of political regime
For the first time, Plato began to reflect on the existence of a political regime. He, in accordance with his idealistic ideas, assumed that there is an ideal state system, where management is carried out by philosophers-sages. All other modes differ in the degree of proximity and distance from this model. In the broadest sense, a political or state regime is the distribution of real power and influence in society. This is a way of existence and functioning of a political system that makes a country unique and different from other states. The formation of a political regime is influenced by numerous elements of the political system: norms, relations, culture, institutions. A narrower understanding implies that a regime of government is a specific way of exercising state power.
Forms of government, political regimes are determined by the culture and traditions of the country, the historical conditions of the state. It is generally accepted that each country has its own form of government, but they have common, universal features that make it possible to create their classification.
The principles of classification of political regimes
The classification of political regimes is made taking into account the following criteria:
- the degree and forms of people's participation in the administration of the country and in the formation of political power;
- place of non-state structures in governing the country;
- degree of guarantee of individual rights and freedoms;
- the presence of opposition in the country and the attitude of the authorities towards it;
- the situation with freedom of speech in the country, the situation of the media, the degree of transparency of the actions of political structures;
- methods of government;
- the situation in the country of power structures, their rights and restrictions;
- the degree of political activity of the country's population.
Types of modes
A great deal of experience in managing countries has been accumulated in history; today at least 150 varieties of political regimes can be counted. The antique classification of Aristotle proposes to distinguish the types of regimes according to two criteria: on the basis of ownership of power and on the basis of how to use power. These signs allowed him to talk about such types of political regimes as monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy, tyranny.
Such a system of typology of political regimes today has become much more complicated and various types can be distinguished according to various criteria. The simplest classification is the division of all varieties into democratic and undemocratic, and diverse varieties are already identified inside. An attempt to take into account a larger number of existing regimes led to their division into main and additional ones. The former include despotic, totalitarian, authoritarian, liberal, and democratic. The second can be attributed tyrannical, fascist. Later typologies also include such intermediate types as military-bureaucratic, sultanist, anarchist, as well as several types of authoritarianism: corporate, pre-totalitarian, postcolonial.
A more complex classification also suggests adding the following to the types already mentioned: dictatorship, meritocracy, kleptocracy, ochlocracy, plutocracy, feudalism, timocracy, military dictatorship, post-totalitarianism. Surely, some other types can be distinguished, since each state adjusts the existing models of regimes to its own characteristics and conditions.
State structure and regime of government
Any regimes of government in specific states cannot exist in its purest form. Three types of government are traditionally distinguished: federation, unitary state and confederation. Most often there are unitary states in which the entire territory of the country is subject to a single system of government, one constitution and centralized management of all administrative units. In this case, unitary states may have a democratic regime of government or authoritarian. But it’s much easier to establish authoritarian and even totalitarian governance models in them. But each time it will be a peculiar interpretation of the regime.
For example, Japan and the United Kingdom are examples of a unitary state ruled by the highest representative of the monarchist family. But each state, to varying degrees, implements forms of representative democracy. Also in unitary states, a special regime for managing certain territories may be established. The federation unites several units with relative independence under a single principle. The Confederation, on the other hand, unites sovereign administrative entities that delegate only part of the functions of state power to general government bodies. Moreover, the federation is more prone to democratic regimes, since several people should always unite in its board. Confederations do not have such a clear pattern, and internal regimes in the subjects may be different.
The concept and origins of totalitarianism
Traditionally, researchers single out totalitarian, democratic, and authoritarian regimes as the main varieties of ways to exercise political power in the state. Totalitarianism is an extreme form of undemocratic regime. Historians say that totalitarianism as a tough version of the dictatorship arises in the 20th century, although there are points of view that the term was then coined, and such political regimes existed before.
Researchers say that totalitarianism is based on the media, which are becoming the main tool for spreading ideology. By totalitarianism is understood the absolute control and regulation by the state of all aspects of life, each individual resident of the country through direct armed violence. Historically, the emergence of this regime has been associated with the rule of Benito Mussolini in Italy in the 1920s, and Hitler Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union are also vivid examples of the implementation of this form of government. The study of totalitarianism is devoted to the well-known study of Z. Brzezinski, who writes that such regimes can be recognized by the following signs:
- the country is dominated by an official ideology, which is shared by most citizens, opponents of ideology are subjected to severe persecution up to physical destruction;
- strict control is established in the state over the actions and thoughts of citizens, police surveillance is designed to seek out “enemies of the people” for subsequent demonstrative reprisals against them in order to intimidate the population;
- the main principle in such countries: only what is recognized by the official authority is allowed, everything else is prohibited;
- there is a restriction in the freedom of receiving information, there is tight control over the dissemination of information, the media are subject to strict censorship, there can be no freedom of speech and speech;
- bureaucracy in all spheres of society’s life management;
- one-party system: in countries with such a regime there can only be a ruling party, all the rest are persecuted;
- the militarization of the country, military power is constantly growing in it, the image of an external enemy is being formed, from which it is necessary to defend;
- terror and repression as tools for instilling fear;
- centralized management of the economy.
Surprisingly, totalitarianism can be built on the basis of democracy or on the basis of authoritarianism. The second case is more frequent, an example of total democracy can be the Soviet Union from the time of late Stalinism, when a large number of the country's inhabitants were involved in the system of total surveillance and repression.
Features of an authoritarian regime
Describing the regimes of government of the state, we should dwell on a more detailed description of their main varieties. Totalitarian, democratic and authoritarian regimes are the three leading options. Authoritarianism takes an intermediate place between the totalitarian and democratic system of government. Authoritarianism is an undemocratic regime, which refers to the concentration of unlimited power in the hands of one or more people. The main difference from totalitarianism is the lack of strong military pressure on the country's inhabitants.
The main features of an authoritarian regime are:
- a monopoly on state power is established, which cannot be transferred to other people or groups in any case, except for a coup;
- prohibition or severe restrictions on the existence of the opposition;
- rigid centralization of the power vertical;
- delegation of authority according to the principles of kinship or co-optation;
- Strengthening power to maintain power;
- isolation of the population from the opportunity to participate in the process of governing the country.
Military bureaucracy
The group of military regimes is a variant of authoritarian and totalitarian models. The military-bureaucratic regime is a one-party regime with a bright leader, whose power is provided by the military. Most often it is customary to talk about communist varieties of such regimes. The main features of a military bureaucracy are:
- the dominant role of military and law enforcement agencies in enforcing government decisions;
- the presence of a special system of control over the life of society;
- violence and terror as the main tools of subordination and motivation of the population;
- legislative chaos and arbitrariness;
- officially proclaimed dominant ideology in the complete absence of opposition.
Tyranny and despotism
An ancient variety of totalitarianism is despotic power. Such a regime existed, for example, in ancient Egypt. Power in this case belongs to one person who received it by right of inheritance. A despot has exclusive power and may not correlate his actions with the laws and regulations of the country. All the outbursts of disagreement with his policy are severely punished, up to the use of brutal indicative executions and tortures. Tyrannical regimes of government differ in that power comes to one person as a result of a military coup. Moreover, the managerial characteristics of a tyrant are close to the behavior of a despot. The power of tyrants has also been known for a long time, so historians describe several such examples in ancient Greece.
Features of a democratic regime
The most common political regimes in the world are various variations of democracy. The form of government of the democratic regime is diverse, but in general it has the following characteristics:
- the people are the main source of supreme power; they are the main sovereign in the state;
- the people have the opportunity to demonstrate their will in free elections, the election of power is the most important sign of democracy;
- citizen's rights - absolute priority of power, any person or minority is guaranteed to have access to power;
- equality of citizens before the law and in government;
- freedom of speech and pluralism of opinions;
- a ban on any form of violence against a person;
- the mandatory presence of the opposition of the ruling party;
- separation of powers, each branch has sovereignty and is subordinate exclusively to the people.
Depending on how people participate in government, there are two forms of democracy: direct and representative. Forms of representative democracy today are the most common. In this case, the people delegate decision-making rights to their representatives in various government bodies.
