List of forms of government
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This article lists forms of government and political systems, according to a series of different ways of categorising them. The systems listed are of course not mutually exclusive, and often have overlapping definitions (for example autocracy, authoritarianism, despotism, totalitarianism, monarchism and tyranny).
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The following list groups major political systems (recognized by political science) in alphabetical order. The various subtype political systems are listed below the main system of government.
- Autocracy
- Democracy
This list focuses on differing approaches that political systems take to the distribution of sovereignty, and the autonomy of regions within the state.
- Sovereignty located exclusively at the centre
- Sovereignty located at the centre and in peripheral areas
- Diverging degrees of sovereignty
- Asymmetrical federalism
- Federacy
- Associated state
- Devolved state - sovereignty can be abolished without changing the constitution
This list shows a division based on differences in political franchise (suffrage).
- Anarchy - rule by no one
- Autocracy - rule by one
- Oligarchy - rule by minority
- Republic - rule by law
- Democracy - rule by majority
Max Weber in his tripartite classification of authority distinguished three ideal types of political leadership, domination and authority:
- Charismatic domination (familial and religious)
- Traditional domination (patriarchs, patrimonalism, feudalism)
- Legal domination (modern law and state, bureaucracy)
