Types of Government

Every nation must have a group of laws that rules the people. The special way that a nation governs itself is called its political system. Throughout history, there have been many different kinds of political systems. Pharaohs whose word was the law ruled Egypt. In ancient Greece, there was no single ruler. Each city had its own government. The power to rule came from all of the citizens of the city.

What is the main idea of the paragraph? (Write this in your own words). __________________________________________________________________

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How many different examples of government are mentioned? ___________

There are many ways to study political systems and to see how they are different. The amount of power that a government has is a very good way of describing that government. In a totalitarian government, the government owns everything. The people in charge may own all of the buildings, land, and newspapers. The government can decide what is taught in school and what jobs people will have. This extremely powerful form of government is called totalitarianism because it has total authority.

Find and write the topic sentence of this paragraph.

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Name the supporting ideas, which show that a totalitarian government controls everything. __________________________________________________________________

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In other nations, the people govern themselves. They choose representatives to make laws for them. The representatives are chosen through the process of voting. This form of government, a democracy, cannot make laws, which hurt people or which take away their individual rights. A constitution, the law of the land, guarantees that all people have certain rights, which cannot be taken away.

What is this form of government called? ______________________________

Name the two facts you have learned about representatives.

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Give the meaning of a constitution (from this paragraph).

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