Forms of Government

1. According to the number of people exercising political power: Monarchy, Oligarchy, Democracy

a. Monarchy - ruled by a monarch (king,queen, emperor, etc.)

Absolute monarchy - the monarch has absolute poewer

Limited or constitutional monarchy - the monarch is the symbolic head of state within the perimeters of a constitution.

b. Oligarchy - political power is exercised by a few who belongs to a privileged class.

c. Democracy - political power is exercised by the majority of the people

Direct democracy - the will of the estate is formulated or expressed directly or immediately through the people in a mass meeting or assmbly.

Indirect democracy - the will of the estate is formulated or expressed through a select body of persons chosen by the people to act as their representative.

2. According to legitimacy: De facto and De jure

A de facto government is a government wherein all the attributes of sovereignty have, by usurpation, been transferred from those who had been legally invested with them to others, who, sustained by a power above the forms of law, claim to act and do really act in their stead.

De jure government is a government which rules legally and with the consent of the people, in contrast with a de facto government, which takes control of a country by force.

3. According to the relationship between the three branches of government: Presidential and Parliamentary

A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides (hence the name) separately from the legislature, to which it is not accountable and which cannot, in normal circumstances, dismiss it.

Features of Presidential System:
• The president does not propose bills. However, the president has the power to veto acts of the legislature.
• The president has a fixed term of office. Elections are held at scheduled times and cannot be triggered by a vote of confidence or other such parliamentary procedures.
• The executive branch is unipersonal. Members of the cabinet serve at the pleasure of the president and must carry out the policies of the executive and legislative branches.
• The power to pardon or commute sentences of convicted criminals is often in the hands of the heads of state in governments that separate their legislative and executive branches of government.

A parliamentary system is a system of government wherein the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature, and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator.

Parliamentary systems are characterized by no clear-cut separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, leading to a different set of checks and balances compared to those found in presidential systems. Parliamentary systems usually have a clear differentiation between the head of government and the head of state, with the head of government being the prime minister or premier, and the head of state often being a figurehead, often either a president (elected either popularly or by the parliament) or a hereditary monarch (often in a constitutional monarchy).

4. According to the extent of power of the national government: Unitary and Federal

A unitary state is a sovereign state governed as one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any administrative divisions (subnational units) exercise only powers that the central government chooses to delegate.

A federal system of government is one that divides the powers of government between the national (federal) government and state and local governments. Under federalism, each level of government has sovereignty in some areas and shares powers in other areas.

In a unitary state, subnational units are created and abolished and their powers may be broadened and narrowed, by the central government. Although political power in unitary states may be delegated through devolution to local government by statute, the central government remains supreme.

In federal states, by contrast, states or other subnational units share sovereignty with the central government, and the states comprising the federation have an existence and power functions that cannot be unilaterally changed by the central government.