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. ]] " in A form of government is a colloquial term that refers to the set of political Institutions by which a State is organized in order to exert its powers over a Political Community (based roughly on Kopstein and Lichbach, 2005: 4) {Link without Title} . Note that this definition holds valid even if the government is illegitimate or if it is unsuccessful to exert its power. Regardless of its qualities, a failed government is still a form of government. SYNONYMS The technical generic term is "regime type". "Form of government" and "systems of government" are both colloquial regarding political classifications. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS The theoretical and technical foundations for the study of such institutional forms is the specialty of a subfield of Political Science called Comparative Politics . (Lichbach and Zuckerman, 1997). Since comparative politics is specialized, scholars lack wide-spread knowledge in all forms of government. There is a debate over whether or not comprehensive regime classification is possible due to its complexity. The traditional and most often used division between governments is a dichotomy (democracy vs. dictatorship (i.e. Moore, 1958) and not a typology. Although it would be useful to have an authoritative typology and update the Politics of Aristotle Politics (Aristotle)) , most scholars prefer to study and compare two or three regime types. Perhaps, the only exception would be those experts in comparative Electoral Systems . They use large databases and math to see which form of electoral system will produce the most stable, enduring and representative regime. (i.e. Taagepera and Matthew Shugart, 1989). Most comparativists study particular institutions (see, Institutionalism ). Some work on the relationships between regime type and those aspects that can qualify the form of government (i.e. Nationalism , Economic System ). A current debate in comparative politics centers on the stability of presidential versus parliamentarian democracies (i.e. Shugart and Carey, 1992). Another, common debate is whether or not democracy promotes development (Przeworsky et. al., 2000). Some other scholars, like experts on institutional engineering, design new regime types. For instance, Arend Lijphart devised a sophisticated institutional solution for democracy, called Consociation . This type of democratic government allows deeply divided societies (culture, ethnicity, religion, ideology etc.) to feel represented under a single regime, in turn preventing conflict or Secession . In sum, categorizing forms of government is complicated. Each Political Community is unique and works under a different Power Structure and Social Configuration . Therefore, there are almost as many forms of governments as there are societies. SOME CHARACTERISTICS WITH EXAMPLES In the light of the "incommensurable theory of regimes" stated above. Beyond mere typologies it is important to think about regime types by looking at the general attributes of the forms of government {Link without Title} : 1. Traditional (clan or kinship) or modern (bureaucracies) 2. Personalistic (North Korea) or impersonal (Germany) 3. Authoritarian (Zaire) or democratic (Belgium) 4. Elections (US), no elections (North Korea), hereditary (Brunei). 5. Direct (Mexico) or indirect elections (Electoral College in the U.S.) 6. Secular (European Union) or non-secular (Iran) 7. Structure of the division of powers (UK) or absence of division of powers (Executive, Legislative, judiciary) (Peru under Fujimori). 8. Parliamentarian (Greece), Presidential (USA) or Monarchical (UK). 9. Number of people in the Executive power (Switzerland has 7, France 2, US 1). 10. Composition of the legislative power (authocratic, unicameral, bicameral) 11. Number of coalitions or party-appointed legislators in Assemblies 12. Federal (Argentina) vs. Unitary (France, China) 13. Rules of the Electoral System : a. plurality (most votes wins)- First past the post (US) b. majoritarian (50% =1 vote wins)- run-off elections (Argentina) c. supermajoritarian (above 60% (cloture rule in the U.S. senate) d. unanimity - (100% votes wins) (Board of directors of a company) 14. Type of Economic System 15. Prevalent Ideologies and Cultures 16. Strong institutional capacity (US) or weak capacity (Iraq) 17. Legitimate (South Africa) or not illegitimate (former communist Romania) 18. ''De facto'' (effective control) or ''De jure'' (nominal control of government). 19. Sovereign (US), semi-sovereign (Puerto Rico) not sovereign (Chechnya). SOME OTHER EMPIRICAL AND CONCEPTUAL PROBLEMS On the surface, identifying a form of government appears to be easy. Most would say that the United States is a , one might say "elections." However, both citizens of the former Soviet Union and citizens of the United States voted for candidates to public office in their respective states. The problem with such a comparison is that most people are not likely to accept it because it does not comport with their sense of reality. And since most people are not going to accept an evaluation that makes the former Soviet Union as democratic as the United States , the usefulness of the concept is undermined. Several possible approaches exist that might help iron out the conceptual disparity between identifying a form of government and identifying its essential characteristics. One possible approach is to consider those characteristics which are Necessary And Sufficient to a form of government. Then, it could be said that "Elections are necessary, but not sufficient for democracies" or "Elections do not a democracy make." Another possible approach is to further elaborate on the nature of the characteristics found within each regime. In the example of the United States and the Soviet Union , both did conduct elections, and yet one important difference between these two regimes is that the defunct USSR had a Single-party System , with all other parties being outlawed. In contrast, the United States effectively has a Bipartisan system with political parties being regulated, but not forbidden. However, the bipartisan nature of the United States political system is a symptom of inherent shortcomings degrading a Multi-party System into a Two-party System and is not its intended design per se.
A further complication is that a number of Political Systems originate as Socio-economic Movement s and are then carried into governments by specific Parties naming themselves after those movements. Experience with those movements in power, and the strong ties they may have to particular forms of governmental control, can cause them to be considered as forms of government in themselves. Some examples are as follows:
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