Government That Have Been Employed to Create

¶ … government that have been employed to create orderly societies within both historical and contemporary epochs. One of the foremost governmental structures that has consistently been used is that of a monarchy. In a monarchy, there is a single person who presides over the political and governmental affairs of a group of people. That person is either a man or a woman, and generally has the final say regarding the setting of public policy. However, monarchs are frequently attended by a group of advisors and counselors who assist in informing them and, on occasion, even making influential decisions relating to the welfare of a particular society. Still, such counselors typically serve their monarch in an advisory capacity, and although they are occasionally permitted to institute actions that directly affect a population group, they do so only at the behest of the monarch, who can choose to veto whatever mandates such counselors have chosen to institute. One of the potential problems of a monarchy, however, is that by having one ruler he or she may tend towards tyrannical proclivities. Additionally, the inheritance of the title of monarch is hereditary, meaning that some rulers may not have any true aptitude for government, yet still govern because they inherited the title of monarch.

Another fairly influential form of government that is existent today is known as a democracy, the likes of which have governed the United States since its inception in the late 18th century. In a democracy, the burden of government is distributed equally throughout the population of a particular society, so that, in effect, there is a situation in which the majority rules (Cincotta). Therefore, people are able to elect the numerous officials who govern them, and, in principle, who work expressly for those people. Although such democratic forms of government inevitably erect certain groups of people who may form political parties, the basic principles that define this type of government are based on the notion that the most popular ideas propagated for and by the people, as well as the most popular advocates of these ideas who will eventually advocate them, are decided by the people themselves. Elections are a principle aspect of this type of government, as is the notion that the majority of the people will dictate what policies are set in a country. Groups that comprise the minority of a population will not have their needs met in a democracy.

A third type of government that has existed throughout history is that which is known as an aristocracy. There are some similarities between an aristocracy and a monarchy. The principle difference between these two forms of government is that an aristocracy consists of multiple persons, generally the politically elite in a society or its nobility, that have the power to set and implement decisions that influence public policy. In one respect an aristocracy addresses one of the central deficiencies in a monarchy, that of one person having too much power, since such power is shared amongst a group of people. However, most aristocracies inevitably lead to power struggles between diverse members of the nobility. Also, both aristocracies and monarchies have the potential to oppress those that are not of the ruling class.