Modes of government, basic political regimes: signs, brief description

Questions about the forms and methods of stateThe controls were still worried by the ancient Greeks. The history of this time has accumulated enormous material for isolating various forms and types of political regimes. About their features, classification features and options and will be discussed in the article.

Form of government

State power is needed by society forsuccessful functioning. The society is not capable of self-organization, therefore it always delegates authority and management functions to someone. Even the ancient philosophers found that the forms of government can be: the power of one, the power of the few, or the power of many or most. Each form has different options. The form of government, the form of government, the state regime are the links of one chain. The form of government implies the features of political and administrative management in the country, which, in turn, can be realized in a different political regime. The form of government is a way of organizing the system of state power. It determines the nature and characteristics of the political process in the country. The first traditional form of government - the monarchy and the republic. In addition, each of them allows you to set different modes of government. It is despotic, aristocratic, absolutist, authoritarian, military-bureaucratic, totalitarian, fascist and many others. The state regime depends on the influence of many factors, primarily on who owns the power. The role of the individual in the polity is extremely high.

The notion of political regime

Впервые о существовании политического режима began to think Plato. He, in accordance with his idealistic notions, assumed that there is an ideal polity where the wise philosophers manage. All other modes differ in degree of proximity and distance from this model. In the broadest sense, a political or state regime is the distribution of real power and influence in society. This is the way of existence and functioning of the political system, which makes the country unique and different from other states. The formation of a political regime is influenced by numerous elements of the political system: norms, attitudes, culture, institutions. A narrower understanding implies that the regime of government is a specific way of exercising state power.

Forms of government, political regimes are due toculture and traditions of the country, the historical conditions of existence of the state. It is generally accepted that each country has its own form of government, but they have common, universal features that allow them to create a classification.

Principles of classification of political regimes

Political regimes are classified according to the following criteria:

• the degree and form of participation of the people in the management of the country and in the formation of political power;
• the place of non-state structures in governing the country;
• degree of guarantee of the rights and freedoms of the individual;
• the presence of opposition in the country and the attitude of the authorities towards it;
• the situation with freedom of speech in the country, the situation of the media, the degree of transparency of the actions of political structures;
• methods of government;
• the situation in the country of law enforcement agencies, their rights and restrictions;
• the degree of political activity of the population.

Types of modes

History has accumulated a great deal of management experience.countries today can count at least 150 varieties of political regimes. The ancient classification of Aristotle proposes to distinguish the types of regimes on two criteria: on the basis of the belonging of power and on the basis of the ways of using power. These signs allowed him to talk about such types of political regimes as monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy, tyranny.

Such a system of typology of political regimesToday it has become much more complicated and, according to various criteria, it is possible to distinguish their various types. The simplest classification is the division of all varieties into democratic and undemocratic, and within it various varieties are revealed. An attempt to take into account a greater number of existing regimes led to their division into basic and additional. The first are despotic, totalitarian, authoritarian, liberal and democratic. The second can be attributed tyrannical, fascist. Later typologies also include such intermediate types as military-bureaucratic, sultanist, anarchic, as well as several types of authoritarianism: corporate, totalitarian, postcolonial.

A more complex classification also offers toFor the already mentioned species, add the following: dictatorship, meritocracy, kleptocracy, ochlocracy, plutocracy, feudalism, timocracy, military dictatorship, post-totalitarianism. Surely, some other types can be distinguished, since each state adjusts the existing models of regimes to its own characteristics and conditions.

Government and government regime

Любые режимы правления в конкретных государствах cannot exist in pure form. Traditionally, there are three types of government: a federation, a unitary state and a confederation. Most often, there are unitary states in which the entire territory of the country is subject to a single system of government, a single constitution, and centralized management of all administrative units. At the same time, unitary states may have a democratic regime of government or authoritarian. But they are much easier to establish and authoritarian, and even totalitarian models of governance. But each time it will be a kind of interpretation of the regime.

For example, Japan and the UK are examples.unitary state governed by the highest representative of the monarchical family. But each state in various degrees realizes forms of representative democracy. Also in the unitary states a special regime of administration of individual territories may be established. The federation unites under a single beginning several units with relative independence. The confederation unites sovereign administrative subjects, which delegate only a part of the functions of state power to the organs of general government. At the same time, the federation is more prone to democratic regimes, since several people should always unite in its board. In confederations there is no such clear pattern, and internal regimes in the subjects may be different.

The concept and origins of totalitarianism

Traditionally, researchers have isolated totalitariandemocratic and authoritarian regimes as the main types of ways to exercise political power in the state. Totalitarianism is an extreme form of a non-democratic regime. Historians say that totalitarianism as a harsh version of the dictatorship arises in the 20th century, although there are points of view that the term was simply coined, and such political regimes existed before.

Researchers say totalitarianismbased on the media, which become the main tool for the dissemination of ideology. Under totalitarianism, they understand the absolute control and regulation by the state of all aspects of life, each individual citizen of the country through direct armed violence. Historically, the emergence of this regime was associated with the time of the reign of Benito Mussolini in Italy in the 20s of the 20th century, and Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union are also vivid examples of the implementation of this form of government. The study of totalitarianism is devoted to the well-known study of Z. Brzezinski, who writes that such regimes can be recognized by the following features:

• the country is dominated by official ideology, which is shared by the majority of citizens, opponents of ideology are subjected to severe persecution, up to physical destruction;
• in the state tight control overactions and thoughts of citizens, police supervision is designed to seek out "enemies of the people" for subsequent demonstrative reprisals against them in order to intimidate the population;
• the main principle in such countries: only what is recognized by the official authorities is allowed, everything else is prohibited;
• there is a restriction in the freedom to receive information, there is a strict control over the dissemination of information, the media are subject to strict censoring, there can be no freedom of speech and speech;
• bureaucracy in all spheres of social life management;
• one-party system: in countries with such a regime only the ruling party can be, all others are persecuted;
• the militarization of the country, military power is constantly growing in it, an image of an external enemy is being formed, from which it is necessary to defend;
• terror and repression as tools for forcing fear;
• centralized economic management.

Surprisingly, totalitarianism maybuilt on the basis of democracy or on the basis of authoritarianism. The second case is more frequent, the example of total democracy can be the Soviet Union of the time of late Stalinism, when a large number of people were involved in the system of total surveillance and repression.

Traits of the authoritarian regime

Describing the regimes of government, shoulddwell on a more detailed description of their main varieties. The totalitarian, democratic and authoritarian regimes are the three leading options. Authoritarianism occupies an intermediate position between the totalitarian and democratic system of government. Authoritarianism is a non-democratic regime, which means the concentration of unlimited power in the hands of one or several people. The main difference from totalitarianism is the absence of strong military pressure on the inhabitants of the country.

The main features of the authoritarian regime are:

• a monopoly is established on state power, which cannot be transferred to other people or groups in any case other than a coup;
• prohibition or severe restrictions on the existence of the opposition;
• rigid centralization of the vertical of power;
• delegation of authority on the principles of kinship or cooptation;
• strengthening the security forces to retain power;
• Isolation of the population from the opportunity to participate in the governance of the country

Military bureaucracy

A group of military regimes is an optionauthoritarian and totalitarian models. The military-bureaucratic regime is a one-party regime with a bright leader, whose power is provided by military forces. Most often it is customary to talk about the communist varieties of such regimes. The main features of military bureaucracy are:

• the dominant role of the military and security forces in ensuring the implementation of government decisions;
• the presence of a special system of control over the life of society;
• violence and terror as the main instruments of subordination and motivation of the population;
• legislative chaos and arbitrariness;
• officially proclaimed dominant ideology in the absence of opposition.

Tyranny and Despotism

An ancient form of totalitarianism isdespotic power. Such a regime existed, for example, in ancient Egypt. The power in this case belongs to one person who received it by right of inheritance. The despot has exclusive power and can in no way correlate its actions with the laws and regulations of the country. All bursts of disagreement with his policies are severely punished, up to and including the use of cruel indicative executions and torture. Tyrannical regimes of government are distinguished by the fact that power comes to one person as a result of a military coup. At the same time, the managerial characteristics of a tyrant are close to the behavior of a despot. The power of tyrants is also known for a long time, for example, historians have described several such examples in ancient Greece.

Features of a democratic regime

The most common political regimes in the world are different variations of democracy. The form of government of a democratic regime is diverse, but in general the following features are peculiar to it:

• the people are the main source of higher power, they are the main sovereign in the state;
• people have opportunities to demonstrate their will in free elections, the election of power is the most important sign of democracy;
• Citizen's rights are the absolute priority of power, any person or minority is guaranteed access to power;
• equality of citizens before the law and in government;
• freedom of speech and pluralism of opinions;
• prohibition of any form of violence against a person;
• the presence of the opposition of the ruling party;
• separation of powers, each branch has sovereignty and is subject exclusively to the people.

Depending on how people participate ingovernment, there are two forms of democracy: direct and representative. Forms of representative democracy today are the most common. In this case, the people delegate the right to make decisions to their representatives in various authorities.

Liberalism as a political regime

A special kind of democracy isliberal regime. The ideas of liberalism appear in ancient times, as a political regime he was first proclaimed in the late 18th century in the US Constitution and the Declaration of Human Rights in France. The main feature of liberalism is the absolute value of a person. Any liberal regime is based on three pillars: individualism, property and freedom. Signs of a liberal political regime are:

• legislative consolidation of the human right to the protection of his individuality and the rights to private property;
• separation of powers;
• publicity and freedom of speech;
• the existence of opposition parties;
• the instability of the political sphere of the country, the participation of the masses in the political life of society;
• the absence of a monopoly on power, the existence of a legal mechanism for the change of power;
• freedom of the economy from all control and intervention by the state.

Now you know the basic information about the modes of government.