Mr. Beat explains every (major) type of government. Ok, not EVERY type of government. That would take, like, three days straight for real. Thank you to @WorldofAntiquity for making this video sooo much better. Subscribe to his channel dangit: https://www.youtube.com/c/worldofantiquity
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Sources/further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_forms_of_government
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_democracy
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/government-type/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy
National Geographic - American Government (textbook, 2021)
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#government #politics #socialstudies
According to the dictionary, “government” means “the governing body of a nation, state, or community.” Wow, that’s actually not that very helpful. Ok, let’s consider the second definition. “The relation between a governed and a governing word.” What the heck? Not helpful either.
Ok, here’s a better definition. Government means the people who run a society. See, that wasn’t that difficult.
More specifically, the folks who make society’s rules and actually have the power and authority to guarantee that those rules are followed.
So what’s politics then?
Politics? That’s just how the power in government is distributed. The purpose of the government is to protect society. More specifically, to resolve conflicts, defend a society from other societies, or provide public services.
Now, people often get really passionate about government and politics because the decisions these folks in government make on a daily basis can have a HUGE effect on all of a society, or even all of the societies in the world. This is also why people have different opinions about the role of government in a society, and even what the best type of government is.
In this video, I am going to explain every major type of government, and at the end of the video, I will reveal my favorite type of government. Oh, and occasionally my friend Dr. David Miano (mee ah no) of the channel World of Antiquity will be chiming in.
Let’s start with two basic categories. Governments are generally either democratic or undemocratic.
I’m Mr. Beat
(Turn to Capitol) Government, amirite? Everybody’s always talking about
or complaining about the Government But what IS “The Government?” Well, according to the dictionary, “government”
means “the governing body of a nation, state, or community.” Wow, that’s actually not that very
helpful. Ok, let’s consider the second definition. “The relation between a governed and a governing
word.” What the heck? Not helpful either. Ok, here’s a better definition.
Government means the peopl
e who run a society. See, that wasn’t that difficult. More specifically, the folks who make
society’s rules and actually have the power and authority to guarantee
that those rules are followed. So what’s politics then? Politics? That’s just how the
power in government is distributed. The purpose of the government is to
protect society. More specifically, to resolve conflicts, defend a society from
other societies, or provide public services. Now, people often get really passionate about
go
vernment and politics because the decisions these folks in government make on a daily basis
can have a HUGE effect on all of a society, or even all of the societies in the world. This is
also why people have different opinions about the role of government in a society, and
even what the best type of government is. In this video, I am going to explain
every major type of government, and at the end of the video, of the channel
World of Antiquity will be chiming in. hey there mr beat thanks fo
r inviting me into this
video i can't wait to dig into this topic with you and i'll try to shed a little light on the ancient
origins of some of these forms of government Let’s start with two basic categories. Governments
are generally either democratic or undemocratic. So our first type of government is democracy. A democracy is any form of government
in which the power belongs to the people and is exercised by them. The word
“democracy” comes from the Greek word “demos,” meaning “the peop
le,” and “kratia” meaning
“rule.” The people rule. In other words, government exists through the consent of the
people and reflects the will of the majority. What say you, David? if we use a looser sense of the word democracy
we could trace its origins all the way back into prehistoric times when tribes would make decisions
through consensus by the majority of members sometimes this is called primitive democracy and
actually with much of our decision making today we use primitive democracy
i mean five friends
get together and decide what restaurant they're gonna eat at the majority often rules right if
we're talking specifically about a fully formed governmental system though athens is commonly
considered the birthplace of democracy it wasn't the only greek city state or polis that had
democracy but it appears to have been the first it was developed after the
overthrow of the tyrant hippies and devised largely by a fellow named
kleisthanes he introduced the idea of the equal
ity of rights for all male citizens
any of them was free to vote and hold office women slaves foreigners etc were left out but
it was progressive for its time because it broke up the class system that had been firmly
established in days gone by athens had a pure or direct democracy the citizens as a group made
all the decisions directly the government leaders the archons were for the most part
administrators who followed the will of the people Groovy. Thanks. The two main forms of democracy
are
representative democracy and direct democracy. A direct democracy, also known as pure democracy,
is where people, as the name suggests, directly vote on government decisions. Realistically today,
direct democracy works better in small communities where citizens can meet regularly to discuss new
changes they want to make with their government. The first example of a direct democracy that comes
to mind for me would be an industrial democracy, in which workers in a workplace make decision
s
about how their workplace should be run. A representative democracy is
an indirect democracy in which representatives in government vote on
behalf of the people they represent. Look, we all have stuff to do. We have jobs
to work at, bills to pay, chores to get done around the house, sports to play, and YouTube
channels to watch. We don’t have time to keep up with everything the government is up to.
So we elect politicians, or people who hold or are seeking political office in government.
We
trust they will vote in our best interest. This is a representative democracy, and it is by far
the most common type of democracy in the world. Oh it doesn’t stop there, there are many,
many types of representative democracies. I’m not going to go through all of them, but here
are a few examples until I get bored with it. The most common type of representative
democracy is a republic. Actually, if you look up most definitions of
republic in various dictionaries, they use the words “rep
ublic” and phrase
“representative democracy” interchangeably. Weirdos. But basically, a republic is any type
of representative democracy where the people have a say in the executive branch, or part of the
government that is supposed to carry out the laws. You want to chime in about republics, David? yes the word republic is a name that comes from
the romans it's latin for a public thing and they use it to refer to their governmental system this
is prior to the empire today we use it in a mo
re technical sense to mean a representative democracy
and that's what the romans had instead of having the people making decisions directly the people
elected government magistrates and allowed them to make the decisions if they didn't like what the
magistrates were doing they would elect someone else to take their place at the end of their
term the roman republic was led by many officials but the consuls were at the very top there were
two of them each elected for a term of one year the ro
mans also had a senate which advised
the government magistrates and an assembly composed of the citizenry which made the laws
sometimes you'll hear about republics existing in ancient india we don't have much documentation on
this but these governments usually referred to as ganasangas were from around the time of the
buddha and they had assemblies we don't know how representative these assemblies were
or how elections were held and these states were usually ruled by kings so they probably
weren't entirely representative democracies in the strict sense anyway but a greek historian
named deodoris who lived in the first century bce does refer to some of the states of india
as democracies there's some question as to what he meant because the word democracy at
that time didn't have a strict definition but it is interesting
Dang you’re good. A parliamentary democracy is where the executive
branch gets its power from and is held accountable to a legislature, or the part of the gove
rnment
that MAKES the laws. In this system, that legislature is usually called a parliament, thus
the name parliamentary democracy...get it? Ha! A presidential democracy is
where the executive branch exists separately from the legislature. They have
separate, distinct powers. In this system, the head of the executive branch
is usually called the President, thus the name presidential democracy...get it?
haha I swear this stuff just makes sense, ya know? Other representative democracies incl
ude
demarchis, where citizens in a society are randomly selected to make government
decisions on behalf of everyone else, and nonpartisan democracy, where elections take
place without reference to political parties. Ok, so there are also semi-direct
democracies, in which representatives are there for day-to-day stuff, but the
citizens still make the big decisions. Both direct and representative
democracies have three main ways citizens make decisions: referendums,
initiatives and recalls.
A referendum is simply the process in which voters either
approve a new law or get rid of an old law. An initiative is a process that allows citizens
to introduce new things to vote on. And finally, recalls are the process of removing
the power of an elected official. Ok, I suppose we ought to now
address that other category. Undemocratic governments. (scary sound effects) In undemocratic societies, the people have no say
about their government. They basically just have to go along with wh
atever their government does,
whether they like it or not. In these societies, leaders get to power by...um….other
means. Any type of government where the people have no say yet the people must
obey is called an authoritarian government. Now let’s run through those delicious
types of authoritarian governments. First, there are autocracies, or governments
in which power is held by one person. The two main types of autocracies are monarchies and
dictatorships, and it really just comes down t
o how that one person comes to power. If the person
comes to power through inheritance from a parent or another relative, it’s a monarchy.
This person who has all the power for life or until they are kicked out at least is called
a monarch. Duh! Titles of monarchs are different around the world. They could be a king or queen,
prince or princess, emperor or empress, archduke, duke or grand duke, emir, sultan, whateva. If
the person comes to power by just taking it, often through a military t
akeover, then it’s a
dictatorship. Some dictatorships are totalitarian, which means the dictator both sets the goals
and controls almost all aspects of a society. You know a lot about dictatorships, don’t
you, David. Didn’t you used to be one? i still am in the classroom the word dictator
comes from the romans as well you see when they formed the republic some people thought that
in times of crisis such as a war the republican system as it was might not work that well they
wanted at these
times a man to be given complete and total power over the state so that quick
decisions could be made they called him a dictator and they did use them from time to time this man
had the power of life and death over everyone in the state but he would only be able to rule for
six months then everything would go back to normal some men ended up abusing this power sula
and julius caesar for example the word tyrant comes from the ancient greeks originally
the word had no negative connotation a t
yrant was simply the name of an
authoritarian ruler of a greek city-state they were quite popular in the archaic period
but after the reign of hippies of athens whom everybody hated the word tyrant started
to become distasteful and that's one of the reasons why tyranny is considered a bad thing
today except in the classroom where my word is law So tyrannical, I love it. Thanks David. Now, most autocracies are really oligarchies. An
oligarchy is a government in which the power is held by jus
t a few people. These people often have
family ties, but not always as we’ll see in a bit. Throughout history, oligarchies have been the
most common type of government in the world, and the fact that they are losing control around
the world is surprisingly a pretty recent trend. Got anything to add about oligarchies, David? well i always have something to add oligarchies
are some of the oldest forms of government around aristocracies for example were one of the most
common forms of governme
nt in the ancient world sometimes they existed in harmony with monarchies
and tyrannies with the nobility sharing power with the state head who himself was a noble but other
times they were formed when the nobles became discontented with single rulers and overthrew
them taking power for themselves and ruling without a king or head of state you might
think this would be an improvement but wealthy landowners often dominated
the political systems to the detriment of the poorer classes in fact
it was
resentment against this kind of government that led to the establishment of the forms
of government that we were just talking about Thanks David. I’d totally have you on my
oligarchy team. (turns to camera) Oh there be lots of different types of oligarchies as well.
I will also just go over a few specific ones here. An aristocracy is rule by the nobility, or a small class of privileged folks who claim a
higher status at birth than the rest of society. A plutocracy is rule by the weal
thy. Keep in
mind that plutocratic influence can affect any type of government. For example, in a republic,
if most of the elected representatives depend on money from wealthy patrons, it’s
basically a plutocratic republic. A stratocracy is rule by military leaders. A theocracy is rule by religious leaders who
rule based on their religious beliefs and values. The problem with most oligarchies is that they
are often just kleptocracies. A kleptocracy is a government in which those in power ar
e corrupt
and there at the expense of the governed. You know, like spending taxpayer money on
lavish mansions for themselves. Stuff like that. And finally, anarchy! (screams) Anarchy just means a society with no government.
Throughout history, anarchy has often happened as a natural, yet temporary result of a violent
revolution or civil war within a country, where an established government has been destroyed
and a new government has yet to take its place. That said, there is a sizable group
of anarchists
out there who think governments should not exist. Many also believe that one day societies can reach
a point where governments are no longer needed. Now, there are adjectives. Ya know, words you
can keep adding on before governments to further distinguish them. We all love adjectives,
except they do make things more complicated. A big adjective used to describe governments
is “constitutional.” If a government has a constitution that formally limits its
power, it’s constituti
onal. While representative democracies commonly have constitutions,
did you know some monarchies do, too? Yep, there are constitutional monarchies, in which the
monarch’s powers are limited by a constitution. At this point in the video, I’ve probably
made some political science dorks upset, so I will wrap this video up by
saying that I have obviously really simplified government types for
the sake of clarity in this video. You see, every government is unique,
and often a society’s governme
nt is a combination of different governments
with weird qualifiers and caveats. Take my home country, for example. The
United States. I’ve always taught my American Government students that the United States is
a representative democracy. Oh, and a republic. Oh, and a constitutional republic. Oh,
and a democratic republic. So yeah, I just really like to confuse my students,
and I guess I like to confuse you, too. And now, the moment only some of you
have been waiting for. I will now reveal
my favorite type of government. Drum roll please. Drum roll. (drum roll) Thank you. My favorite type of government is a republic. Oh, but more specifically, a parliamentary
form of a nonpartisan democracy. Basically, we elect leaders to a parliament without
reference to political parties. Booyah! So do you agree with me? If you don’t agree with
me, let me know in the comments why you have incorrect opinions. A special thank you to Dr.
David Miano (mee ah no) of the channel World of Antiquit
y for his appearance in my video. Be sure
to check out his channel. It features some really accessible stuff about ancient civilizations and
it’s ridiculously underrated. Thanks for watching!
Comments
What is your favorite type of government? Thanks again to Dr. David Miano of World of Antiquity for his contributions in this video. Check out his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/worldofantiquity
You forgot Penguinocracy. Where Penguins control all of the government's decisions. Antarctica has been under that type of government. It's such a good system that it has survived for thousands of years.
FUN FACT: the town of Springfield in The Simpsons has a direct democracy
I thought the only 2 types of government were American and Communism. Great video as usual Mr. Beat!
The literal meaning of "kleptocracy" is "rule by thieves", possibly related to the fact that many autocratic rulers see no reason not to take the government's money and use it on themselves.
"Sooo tyrannical, I love it." Mr. Beat is a dictator confirmed! Escape while you still can!
===TIMESTAMPS=== The Definitions and Purpose of Government: 0:20 Introduction to the Video Topic: 1:39 Democracy: 2:22 Direct Democracy: 4:19 Representative Democracy: 4:54 Republic: 5:47 Parliamentary Democracy: 7:43 Presidential Democracy: 8:04 Other Representative Democracies: 8:24 Referendums: 8:57 Initiatives: 9:03 Recalls: 9:09 The Definition of an Undemocratic Society: 9:26 Authoritarian: 9:44 Autocracy: 9:55 Monarchy: 10:10 Dictatorship: 10:36 Totalitarian: 10:43 Oligarchy: 12:12 Aristocracy: 13:39 Plutocracy: 13:48 Stratocracy: 14:05 Theocracy: 14:09 Kleptocracy: 14:19 Anarchy: 14:37 Adjectives: 15:10 Constitutional: 15:25 The Grand Finale: 16:33 Conclusion: 17:12 A Special Message: 21:50 Great video, Beat and Dr. Miano! Keep up the great work.
If only George McGovern had won in 1972 then we could have had the “US McGovernment”… Yea bad pun.
I really enjoy when educational youtubers band together and make interesting videos like this one! Not to take away from your solo videos, though Mr. Beat. Those videos are also beneficial as well.
When David said he was a dictator in the classroom, I misheard it as a dictator in the class-war and I was really confused for a moment.
14:36 - Dang, Mr. Beat's been hitting the gym...
Mr. Beat, You're an awesome educator. Im finishing up my last years of Highschool and I just wish I had not only history teachers but all my teachers actually intrigue me in learning instead of telling me heres a book or text, heres your questions to answer, get a good grade.
Fun tidbit, in Greece when the archon died during their term they wouldn't just elect a new one, they would elect a new archon at the end of the deceased archons term. Those years where they had no archon for a term were called anarchy because they were without an archon. Sounds weird but it seemed to work out pretty well for them apparently.
One thing I've always disliked about the traditional classifications of government systems is the use of the word "presidential" as a contrast to "parliamentary." To me, that makes any country with a president sound tyrannical, and any country without a president sound more directly-democratic. But of course many parliamentary governments have prime ministers who are just as powerful — if not more powerful — than many presidents. But we never say "prime ministerial system." I think a better classification would be to say something like "independent executive" vs. "legislative executive" rather than "presidential" vs. "parliamentary."
Mr Beat always speaks in a tone which screams- I have given up hope on humanity.
This is probably one of the most useful videos yet! Fantastic! 👌
"Ankain, my allegience is to the right of the people having a say in who governs the galaxy's executive branch, to the executive branch being accountable to the democratically elected legislature" Obi Wan-Kenobi (2005)
Thank you for painting a much more nuanced and fair picture of anarchism. Anarchists are often stereotyped as just wanting violence and chaos without any consequences, when almost none of us want that at all. We just think most forms of social hierarchy are illegitimate and oppressive and should be abolished. States commit more violence on any given day than any anarchist has ever done.
Genuine question: A Parliamentary system seems like it inherently is going to be partisan whether officially or not. With a vote for prime minister that isn't a direct citizen vote, it seems like parties are inevitable.
Fox had a reality show kinda like survivor, but they were is the woods, and it was more about forming a society from scratch. There were about 15 people, and they got voted off one by one. Right away, they all agree to take votes on basically everything to decide things. Well all except this one old-fashioned southern dude. He said he didn't want to agree to that type of authority, because that was "communism." That was it. That was his only argument. "But that's communism, and we aren't communist, were americans". They actually tried to reason with him that that was ridiculous, and he was gonna get voted off if he wouldn't just agree to this basic concept that they will take votes on how to do things, so they can survive. Needless to say he was voted off.