9781422277706

SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT Communism: Control of the State Democracy: the People’s Government Dictatorship: Authoritarian Rule Fascism: Radical Nationalism Monarchy: Sovereignty of a King or Queen Oligarchy: Power of the Wealthy Elite Theocracy: Religious Government The Evolution of Government

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Names: Gillespie, Larry, 1965- author. Title: The evolution of government / Larry Gillespie.

Description: Philadelphia : Mason Crest Publishers, 2019. | Series: Systems of government | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Audience: Grade 7 to 8. Identifiers: LCCN 2017052205 | ISBN 9781422240182 (hc) | ISBN 9781422277706 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Comparative government—Juvenile literature. | Political science—Juvenile literature. Classification: LCC JF127 .G55 2019 | DDC 321.009—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017052205

Systems of Government series ISBN: 978-1-4222-4014-4

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Table of Contents 1. From Subject to Citizen....................................................................7 2. The State and the Law ..................................................................19 3. Authority and Legitimacy ..........................................................35 4. The State or the Individual ........................................................51 5. Governments Today ......................................................................67 Series Glossary of Key Terms ......................................................82 Chronology..............................................................................................84 Further Reading ..................................................................................88 Internet Resources ............................................................................89 Chapter Notes........................................................................................90 Index ..........................................................................................................93 Contributors ..........................................................................................96

Words to understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text while building vocabulary skills.

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Research projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series glossary of key terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

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Residents of East and West Berlin cross though the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz, November 1989. The fall of the Wall—built in the early 1960s by the Communist government of East Berlin—showed that the Cold War was ending with the collapse of communism. East and West Germany reunited as a single nation in 1990, and the Soviet Union itself ceased to exist in December 1991, breaking into 15 separate states.

Words to Understand in This Chapter

autocratic— describing a ruler or state with absolute power. constitution— a document that contains the system of fundamental laws and principles that determines the nature, functions, and limits of a government. parliament— a legislative assembly or lawmaking body. republic— a representative democracy in which representatives elected by the peo-

ple (and not the people themselves) vote on legislation. tyranny— absolute rule by a single person; dictatorship.

O O n November 9, 1989, tens of thousands of cheer- hated symbol, intent on breaking it apart. They were East Germans, exulting in their new freedom to travel across the border from the east to the west. Since 1961, that had not been possible. For 28 years the Berlin Wall had stopped them. A Political Milestone The wall was built by a repressive government called the German Democratic Republic. The nation’s name did not reflect the true ideology of the GDR, which was neither demo- cratic nor a republic. In a democracy, all people have the right to participate in government. In a republic , citizens vote for the ing people celebrated the fall of a concrete wall in Berlin. Some of them took hammers and chisels to the

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government officials who represent them. The GDR was a repressive state run by a single political party—the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, also known as the East German Communist Party. The East German government allowed its people few free- doms. It controlled all economic aspects of the country. And it used the press “to direct the thinking of the people into correct political lines.” In August 1961, to stop the thousands of peo- ple from fleeing East Germany each day, the GDR—with mas- sive support from the Soviet Union—had closed its border to the west. Ultimately a 12-foot-tall, 27-mile-long concrete wall, topped by barbed wire, divided the city of Berlin. East German guards manned the watchtowers. They were under orders to shoot to kill anyone attempting to cross into West Berlin. Over the years almost two hundred people died in the attempt. Autocratic communist regimes had held power for decades in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. But in the late 1980s many of them were self-destructing. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 symbolized the collapse of communism and the rise of new freedoms. Many former communist countries would tran- sition to democratic governments in which citizens could vote in free, multiparty elections. When the Berlin Wall fell, people across Eastern Europe celebrated a major milestone. Authoritarian communist governments were making way for governments that would protect human rights and dignity. Kinds of Government A government is the body or system by which a state, commu- nity, or people are controlled or regulated. The word govern

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The Evolution of Government

East German police and West German citizens watch as a workman dismantles a section of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz, November 1989. For nearly 30 years, the wall sym- bolized the division of Germany into two states with very different systems of government.

From Subject to Citizen

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comes from the Latin word gubernare , which means “to steer” or “to rule.” In an organ- ized society, government is the authority or body that controls, influences, or regulates the policies, actions, and affairs of a state. Among a state’s pri- mary goals are achieving order and providing security. Civilization has seen the rise and fall of hundreds of

Key Quote

German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) described a state as a government that has the right to use force to maintain control. “[A] state is a human community,” he wrote, “that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.”

thousands of governments. In ancient times monarchy, or rule by one person, was common. Some monarchal governments were long-lasting regimes in which the son or daughter inher- ited the throne upon the monarch’s death. Such hereditary monarchies existed in ancient times in many parts of the world, including Africa (Egypt), the Middle East (Mesopotamia), India, and China. In some cases, the central authority was not a king but an individual who seized power and ruled by force. In early times, this government was called a tyranny . It is referred to today as a dictatorship. In other cases a small elite group held power. This form of government was an oligarchy. In monarchies and tyrannies, a single person controlled the state. In oligarchies, a small elite group was in charge. But in some ancient Greek city-states, democracy became the form of government. In these democratic governments citizens exer- cised power as voters, jurists, and members of assemblies.

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The Evolution of Government

Throughout world history, there have been many different types of governments. In Central America, the ancient Maya established city-states under the control of ruling fam- ilies. This stone sculpture, representing a Mayan king, was taken from his tomb at the Palenque site in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

From Subject to Citizen

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They did not submit to a supreme authority. But the power of the citizen lasted only about two hundred years. It was lost in the cen- turies that followed in govern- ments where the individual was expected to be obedient to the state. But even as the state

Key Idea

Three major elements of a modern state are a system of centralized authority, the rule of law, and accountability.

maintained authority, new forms of government continued to develop. One of them was the republic, which first appeared in ancient Rome around 500 BCE . A republic was a representative form of government. Roman citizens elected public officials to represent them. Laws and rules made by ancient kings gave way to rules established by lawmaking bodies of men. Known as senates, parliaments , and assemblies, these groups helped establish the rule of law within their societies. The rule of law refers to well- defined and established public rules and written law. In modern times it is usually part of a written constitution —the document that creates a government and defines and limits its functions. Modern Governments Political scientist Francis Fukuyama has written that there are three political institutions essential to political order: the state (a centralized authority), the rule of law, and accountability (the idea of being subordinate to the will of the people). The first two institutions, he explains, developed in early civiliza-

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The Evolution of Government

The U.S. president speaks to members of the Congress. The United States is a federal republic, in which governing authority is divided between the national government and state and local governments.

tions. The third did not appear until modern times, when the individual rights of people gained importance. As citizens’ rights were recognized, the rule of law limited the power of rulers. A constitution, for example, establishes a government of laws in which the rule of law applies to all, including the ruler. Constitutions can require a ruler to be accountable to parliaments, assemblies, or other groups repre- senting the people. Accountability, thus, is an idea that is an element of the modern state. It reflects the idea that people are the supreme

From Subject to Citizen

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Freedom in the World 2018

authority in government. Accordingly it is used most often in describing democratic governments. With democracy came the new ideas of the state’s responsibility to its people, including protecting the rights of citizens. Fukuyama identifies liberal democracies as the most widely endorsed form of a just govern- ment. Liberal Democracy In a liberal democracy, citizens decide who will govern them. They have the right to participate in free and fair elections to

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The Evolution of Government

select their government. There are no gender, racial, or ethnic limits in defining citizenship. In elections, the government allows universal suffrage—all adult citizens have the right to vote. Citizens of a liberal democracy can also have faith that the government will protect their fundamental rights. Such rights include the right to free speech, the right to choose one’s reli- gion, and the right to fair legal proceedings if accused of a crime. Property rights are protected and people have the right to consent to policies that affect them. At the turn of the 20th century, most of the world’s govern- ments were monarchies. Today, most countries are democra- cies, according to Freedom House, a U.S. government–funded organization based in Washington, D.C., that evaluates govern- ments’ defense of political rights and civil liberties in countries around the world. In its 2018 “Freedom in the World” report, Freedom House found that 63 percent of countries (123 out of 195) were electoral democracies. This means citizens have the right to vote for their government in elections, and that the governments generally respect and protect the rights of citi- zens. By comparison, in 1990—the earliest year that Freedom House tracked the number of electoral democracies—only 41 percent of countries qualified for this classification. And yet, there are troubling problems. Since 2006, Freedom House has found that the basic tenets of democracy—such as guarantees of free and fair elections, the rights of minorities, freedom of the press, and the rule of law—have been under attack in many countries. Freedom House classified just 45 percent of countries as “Free,” with another 30 percent classi-

From Subject to Citizen

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Educational Video

Scan here for a video on the worldwide decline of democracy:

fied as “partly free” and 25 percent as “not free.” “Political rights and civil liberties around the world deteri- orated to their lowest point in more than a decade in 2017,” wrote Freedom House President Michael J. Abramowitz in the 2018 report. “Perhaps worst of all, and most worrisome for the future, young people, who have little memory of the long strug- gles against fascism and communism, may be losing faith and interest in the democratic project. The very idea of democracy and its promotion has been tarnished among many, contribut- ing to a dangerous apathy. Citizens’ Rights Over the course of human history government has evolved from authoritarianism to accountability and protection of citi- zens’ rights. Along the way, the concept of citizenship also evolved, with full political rights being extended to an ever- wider portion of the population. Initially, the United States, France, Great Britain, and other early democracies of the mod-

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The Evolution of Government

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