Athenian democracy - all adult citizens were required to take an active part in the government.

If
they did not fulfill their duty they would be fined and sometimes marked with red paint. The Athenian
definition of “citizens” was also different from modern-day citizens: only free men were considered
citizens in Athens. Women, children, and slaves were not considered citizens and therefore could not
vote.

Representative democracy - a government in which citizens vote for representatives who create
and change laws that govern the people rather than getting to vote directly on the laws themselves.
Political system in which citizens of a country or other political entity vote for representatives to
handle legislation and otherwise rule that entity on their behalf. The elected representatives are in
turn accountable to the electorate for their actions.

Constitutional monarchy - They reign but do not rule. The monarch is a head of state but does not
rule. They are constitutionally obligated to follow the government’s advice. The King appoints the
prime minister and acts as a head of the nation. In this role, he is a focus of national identity, and
represents stability and continuity.

Totalitarian Government - Form of government that attempts to assert total control over the lives of
its citizens. It is characterized by strong central rule that attempts to control and direct all aspects of
individual life through coercion and repression. It does not permit individual freedom. Traditional
social institutions and organizations are discouraged and suppressed, making people more willing to
be merged into a single unified movement. Totalitarian states typically pursue a special goal to the
exclusion of all others, with all resources directed toward its attainment, regardless of the cost.

(Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler 1933 - 1945) (North Korea under Kim Dynasty 1948 – now)

Absolute Monarchy - form of government in which a single person—usually a king or queen—holds

absolute, autocratic power. The ruling power and actions of the absolute monarch may not be
questioned or limited by any written law, legislature, court, economic sanction, religion, custom, or
electoral process. (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Brunei)

Communism - aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership
and communal control of at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and
the natural resources of a society. Communism is thus a form of socialism—a higher and more
advanced form, according to its advocates. Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long
been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the communists’ adherence to the
revolutionary socialism of Karl Marx.

Classless – no one is more superior than the others

Socialism - political system based on collective, common, or public ownership of the means of
production. All legal production and distribution decisions are made by the government in a socialist
system. The government also determines all output and pricing levels and supplies its citizens with
everything from food to healthcare.

Proponents of socialism believe that it leads to a more equal distribution of goods and services and a
more equitable society.