The readership of the List Universe is varied, and many of us come from government systems that are quite different from others. While they may be foreign to us, we are familiar with the concepts used in other nations. This list looks at 10 forms of government that are not very well known or have been seldom seen (which is a blessing in the case of some of them).
Ruled by an ideology that penetrates every nook and cranny of its society. The regime is often headed by a cult of personality type leader. The government gets its power from a goal or idea, such as the dominance of Nazi Germany, that its people embrace so much they will give up rights to defend it. It builds up control through eliminating and confining anything that acts independently of the state, until it regulates and enforces nearly every aspect of public and private life. Giving themselves power through propaganda, control over media, economy, restricting free discussion, mass surveillance, and use of terror tactics. Totalitarianism is really just a concept, but many countries have advocated and built off of it. The two best known being Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union (Stalin pictured above). The George Orwell book 1984 deals extensivly with the subject.
Ruled by a god or deity, the state is governed by an individual that is divinely guided, or more often an institutional representative (a church). The local laws and rules are set by a dominant religious leader on behalf of God. In pure theocracy, the leader is believed to have a direct connection to God, such as Moses and Muhammad ruled the early Israelites and Muslims. What they say is to be the law of God. Ecclesiocracy on the other hand, the leaders do not claim to be a direct religious link, but instead uphold a pre-received revelation. Other theocracies may hold a secular government to delegate civil law to religious communities. Vatican City (an absolute theocratic monarchy), Saudia Arabia, and Iran are a few notable Theocracies.
The exilarchy is set to rule a religious or ethnic group, rather than the place the group originates from. The leader only has power through cultural and honorary means, and only rules the groups followers. They are ultimately governed by their host countries. Two examples of an exilarchy are the Reish Galuta, and Dalai Lama’s rule over the Tibetan diaspora.
Not far off from anarchism, Minarchists believe government should be limited to protecting the basic right of life, liberty, and property. They endorse a Night Watchman State, which is limited to Court, Police, and Military. Minarchists favor small, local or city level jurisdictions, rather than a large national government. Leaving anyone who doesn’t want to work or live under a certain municipality, be able to move to another jurisdiction easily. Although closely related to Market Anarchists, minarchism understands that government is inevitable, so instead of fight it, limit it.
Ethnocracies are used to make one race, religious group, or language, politically dominant to the rest. With all other issues being subordinate to their cause. The degree of discrimination will vary from system to system. In Uganda there is an ethnic cleansing of the Indian people, along with an extreme political favoring of the indigenous people. However ethnocracy can be a full fledged democracy, with only a lack of representation for a certain group. A few other places experiencing ethnocracy are Pakistan (flag above), Israel, and South Africa.
Similar to a plutocracy, the kleptocracy is ruled by a few people of wealth. In this system however, the rich get richer by embezzling from its citizens. A kleptocracy degrades the peoples quality of life, taking money that is often supposed to go to schools, hospitals, roads, and other public services. In 2004, an a German-based NGO, Transparency International released a list of what is believed to be the ten most self-enriched leaders, Indonesian and Philippine Presidents ranking on the top 2. The US Senate recently coined the term narcokleptocracy, building off the existing term for kleptocracy to address societies involved in narcotic trades.
Economic inequality at its finest, the plutocracy gives power to the most wealthy. A few of the places who are known for their plutocracies are Ancient Greece, Carthage, Italian merchant republics of Venice and Florence, and Genoa. In recent times there is no true plutocracy, although many countries are criticized for showing similar signs. Corporations raise and donate significant amounts of revenue for politicians and political parties, and use their financial power to influence favorable legislation; similar to a corporatocracy. The Plutocracy is classically an oligarchy, so a handful of the wealthiest people control everything. If there is no proper form of control, the plutocracy collapses into a kleptocracy.
A more ironic or parody government, a logocracy is a government ruling through words. Described in Washington Irving’s 1807 work, Salmagundi, a logocracy is a government that uses tricky wording to control its people. The Soviet Union has been accused of being a logocracy, citing that its language was a “”stereotyped jargon consisting of formulas and empty slogans, whose purpose was to prevent people from thinking outside the boundaries of collective thought”. George Orwell’s 1984 is a good example of a logocracy, and used the Soviet Union’s “Neo-language” as the basis for its Newspeak.
Technocracy is a government ran by scientists and engineers. Placing the most knowledgeable professionals in charge of their specialized area to ensure administrative functions are carried out efficiently. For example, a group of medical professionals would control the health care system, political scientists would control political policy, Judges would control the law, with all the groups working together to maximize each one’s performance. The officials would be selected through bureaucratic processes to test knowledge and performance, selecting the most qualified. Though never used in a state wide setting yet, there is a technocracy movement pushing to make North America one large technocratic based land mass. The area would use a system of “Energy Accounting” instead of money and use a non-market economy – hypothetically becoming the most energy and production efficient place in the world.
A government ran by randomly selected citizens called a ‘citizen’s jury’. The system is similar to a democracy, without the need for elections. Proposed by Australian philosopher John Burnheim, this style of government has never actually been used. Hypothetically, the random selection will remove the chance of political corruption, as it is unlikely the elected people involved would be part of a ‘political machine’. A Demarchy also avoid the issue of having to please anyone for political gain, and is dependent only on the selected persons beliefs and standings on what is best for the population. Cutting down the time that is spent by today’s elected officials to influencing, and be influenced by others to achieve political goals and popularity.
Contributor: Trigun472
120. Anonymouspongebob : How am I Communist? I said it is a good idea, that will never work. I don’t think it should be implemented. Does that make me a Communist?
Stalin was such a hottie back in the days. Then he got fat.
Totalitarianisim + Kleptocracy = Chavez’s goverment
I know this cause I see it everyday
Plus, anyone from Latin America knows that kleptocracy is the most popular form of goverment…at least for those in power.
123. Jamie Moore : Everyone in South East Asia probably shares the sentiment…
115. Anonymouspongebob
Obama has been in office for less than two months and as such has not established enough of an office to control people. He’s barely ventured into his own policies since most of the issues he has been addressing thus far are acts to differentiate himself from the previous administration. If you’re not willing to give him a decent amount of time to prove if he is worthy of the office, I suggest you move out of the country to where you feel your needs are met. Complaining isn’t going to make the situation any better.
90. Matt:
you are an idiot.
gatineau, what is idiotic about that comment? How do you measure success?
Isn’t the USA the ultimate Plutocracy ???
what no oligarchy? I think only guatamala uses it anyways, but still….. really neat list
i hated that movie JFrater. a few laughs but overall awefull. and i believe all forms of government are in some way or another idiocracies
That was a really interesting list, I enjoyed it AND learned something from it…
Thanks!
Great list, I hadn’t heard of some of these.
Of the nine major depressions of the 20th century, 6 were preceded by republicans. There are so many factors involved in a depression, that it is too simplistic to just blame the administration for it. They are only partly culpable. They economy will always cycle, regardless of the policies of government.
Give Obama a chance. Only time will tell.
Oops *recession. I shall shut up now lol.
Very interesting list. I think it would actually be quite interesting to see Demarchy put into practice. However it could cause problems if somebody with beliefs close to Hitler’s came into power.
whoa, so many Pinoys here!
63. ianislost- Yup, the Philippine government is in a sorry state all right! I agree!
129. JFrater – how about IDIOCRACY? Ruled by IDIOTS… ~good one! ha ha ha ha!
Anyway… very interesting list. Btw, can anyone interpret to me the meaning of the quote,
“Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried?”
I’ve read it somewhere…
89. YogiBarrister – March 7th, 2009 at 11:50 am
How about idiocracy? A country ruled by the stupidest people. Lord Calvert as president, GRP as the first lady. It’s pretty much like what we’ve had for the last eight years.
very, very good one!
I would have too much to say on this subject, however it needs pointing out that America is nowhere near a Democracy, it is very much heading towards a Totalitarian Plutocracy (being a plutocracy for the last 50 years).
Your politicians do not represent you, they represent the highest bidder for their services within Congress and the Senate. Corruption is plain to see in many supposedly Democratic countries in South East Asia but at least it is not dressed up as INTEREST groups and political donations. Apathy rule sin the US hence the reason a President like Bush Jr can be elected. He who has made the problem that Obama has to deal with. 10 years of allowing the wealthy to get away with corporate murder and now Obama has to deal with the problems.
I like this list but I think in todays world of Globalisation all or most of the ideologies within it are very near dead end’s and we should aim for a much more realistic World Govt designed mainly by the intelligenstia of humanity and not governed by facist or socialist idealogy. The Technocracy on a worldwide stage would be the only way to govern (at least this way the Redneck bible thumpers could not influence the vote)
Question: What is the truest definition of Globalisation?
Answer: Princess Diana’s death.
Question: How come?
Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whiskey, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines bought in the Czech Republic from Ukrainian smugglers !
And this is sent to you by a Welshman, using Bill Gates’ technology (re-modeled by a Thai in Pantip for free) Which bill enjoyed stealing from the Japanese and you are probably reading this on one of those Russian IBM clones that use Taiwanese-made chips, and Korean-made monitors, assembled by workers in a Singaporean, Vietnamese, Bangladeshi or Chinese factory, transported in lorries driven by Indians and Pakistanis, hijacked by Indonesians or Somali’s, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen onto Thai made trucks, trucked by Mexican illegal aliens and finally sold to you.
That, my friend, is Globalisation! Finally, an explanation in English to make my point.
136. Denzell:
i know exactly where you read that quote – civ4! greetings fellow civ fanatic! my personal interpretation of that quote is that democracy does have its share of flaws, but it certainly has worked much better (so far) than the alternatives, some of which are listed above.
and i am proud to announce to every LV addict out there that i too am pinoy! however i won’t be delving into our politics; that does not belong here.
138. Blue:
i agree with the technocracy bit of your comment, although i don’t understand how a “non-market” economy works, since we as a species have done well with the market economy for milennia, with free trade and economic incentive driving innovation and improving our standard of living .
on globalization: i believe that there is no other way to go. we humans have benefited more from sharing, trading and cooperating with each other than by attempting to subjugate and exploit fellow humans. nationalism is so nineteenth century.
Sorry but you didn’t list an anarco-sydicalist commune. They take it in turns to be a sort of executive officer for the week, but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting, by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs, but by a two thirds majority in the case of. . .
And of course there’s wielding supreme executive power through a farcical aquatic ceremony where a watery tart lobs a scimitar at you.
Did you know that Bulgaria is a Kleptocracy ?
139. bucslim
BE QUIET!! Bloody peasant.
MARK
“110. kakazed : In what universe is that true? I’m assuming a lot here – so stop me if any of my assumptions are faulty – you are a white, living in South Africa? What are the blacks doing to your people at the moment? Why would they be doing this if your country is now perfectly equal?”
i told myself that i would no longer argue online BUT
your assumptions suck. BIG TIME. I am not white. I am Indian. third generation so we have been thru apartheid.
what do you mean what are the blacks doing to us? Are you talking about crime? well all races are suffering from this. Are you talking about affirmative action? Well its needed in order to empower those who previously suffered.
People do leave our country but its mainly due to safety issues.
My point is the article makes it look as if we still under apartheid. We are very far from it and are very equal amonsgt races.
Now we see the violence inherent in the system. . . .HELP HELP I’m being repressed!
Socalism in most reality is accully just a form of plutocracy and totalitarianism.
Minocracy is new sounds interesting but also weak in some ways.
Meritocracy….there is a game called eve online in it a race the Caldari are a meritocracy they evolved on a planet and every one works for a group of super corporations. They are also a little bit technoracy too. They have the greatest industry and best soldiers.
But yea (DORK i know)
but yea i agree with the comment earlier all forms of government are good until you include man.
Also why is it why theres a demonstration the two groups that invarably work together are communit and anarchist? :O
Kleptocracy….sounds like every nations government to me….hehehe
142. kakazed : Sorry for the faulty assumptions, hope we didn’t get off on the wrong foot. I live in Australia so I know a lot of ex-pat South Africans. The reason they are leaving SA by the dozen is what I am talking about the blacks doing – rape, murder etc. If you live there you must have an idea of what I’m talking about right? I do agree with you that the article implies that races in you country are unequal in government representation. But I don’t think most people will jump from that to apartheid. Escecially not sports fans – South Africa plays cricket and rugby again now
By the way, good to see an Indian South African on the team, Amla is one of my favourite batters on the international stage at the moment. Great, wristy technique a treat to watch – even for an Australian.
144. James : Socialism is actually the step between Capitalism and Communism outlined by Marx and Engels in THAT manifesto. But recently – Germany being a perfect example – it has come to be almost synonomous with a Facist-type dictatorship. I urge everyone to read about Socialism as it is actually a very interesting and misunderstood concept.
I hope that was my comment you were referring to :p
Communism and Anarchism are actually very similar schools of political thought. Communism proposes a leaderless, stateless, classless society were everyone is “equal”. Anarchism proposes no government – not the same thing, but similar. The real reason you see them “working together” is that there isn’t that many supporters of either types in most parts of the world, so it’s inevitable that likeminded people will band together. Much like the Neo-Nazi movements attract Facists – they aren’t racist like the skinheads, but they agree with the right-wing sentiment. I hope that made it a bit clearer.
I am South African and I have never come across Ethnocracy before in my own country before. Where do you get that information????????
148. sagirl : From the lack of representation given to the black South Africans.
Very interesting list, and a highly, er, amusing comments section. I’m going to stay out of all the ‘OMGZ obama is a COMMUNIST!!!11′ nonsense and ask a different question:
Does anyone have a number for that Snorgtees model in the ‘Never Drink and Derive’ shirt in the advert halfway through? I have a good line in pithy, slightly amusing disposable quotes – I think we’d get on
Ah! Hell no! The adverts change when you refresh the page! I’ve lost my tee-shirt wearing love and now I just look stupid(er)
Epic fail
125. gabi319,
correct me if I’m wrong, but is it not the duty of the citizen to question his government?
or shall we the citizens blindly follow our leaders?
logocracy = Obama
152. anonymouspongebob
It is the citizen’s duty to question the government and take active part in making a better society. I can’t speak on your actions for the latter but there isn’t enough of a former (i.e. government or in this particular case the Obama administration) to question. You are simply laying criticism the man who got enough votes to get him to his office. Yes, today is not the same day I replied to your original statement but it is still LESS THAN TWO MONTHS since he has come into office.
Great list, I’ve never heard of half of these types of government. No place is, nor ever will be perfect, I guess all we can do is make the best of our current surroundings.
Obama has spent more than any US President in history and he did it in less than 2 months. So, a lot of damage can be done in a short period of time. The problem is, he is not stopping. Trillions more will be borrowed from future generations for his spending programs, which are no doubt socialistic.
Obama’s next created proble – high inflation. We will all be saying, “Welcome back, Carter”. Stagflation is sure to come on all of us.
bucslimacy – this form of government is where everyone goes around making fun of everyone else (except the supreme executive.) The men in this society generate mirth by pantsing their male relatives in public places. The women completely *****ing worship bucslim, uh, the hot ones that is. People who don’t give the supreme executive bucslim at least a ‘lol’ in this comment section are scurried off in the middle of the night to work camps in North Dakota. All of your wages are paid with ‘buc-bucks’ that you can exchange for food and other sundries at ‘Slimtown.’ The only thing on television is my life story, and on Saturdays there’s a special cartoon version for the kids.
At night we’d all make fun of the girls who dumped me in Jr. High and High School.
What do you think of me now Angie Brown? Why don’t you kiss my Supreme Executive Ass!!!
And the world would be a happy place.
152. anonymouspongebob : Question, yes, definitely. Blatantly insult with no evidence, definitely NOT.
154. EsBravo32 : Well said.
155. Steelman : Maybe, but not spending = depression rather than recession. So stop arguing off the back of right-wing propaganda and start making logical, well supported opinions of your own please
Help! Help! I’m being repressed!
oh, and is anyone else terrified by Chris Matthews saying he would do anything in his power to make Obama’s presidency successful?
159. RandomPrecision: oh, and is anyone else terrified by Chris Matthews saying he would do anything in his power to make Obama’s presidency successful?
****
No. Chris Matthews is just a guy with a T.V. show. What power does he have?
BFD?
Get a grip Random. Find some reality.
Matthews has the sway of a liberal media behind him. The job of a reporter is to be the fourth branch of government (in america anyway).
How can he be doing his job when he is pledging his alliegence to the president?
153. gabi319
Obama = Logocracy, won his votes by his using tricky wording to control its people
All it was, was Rhetoric.
In less than 2 months he’s planning on starting a multibillion dollar stimulus package, because the US has little money, the right thing to do is to spend it all correct? false.
Close Guantanamo bay, cuz everyone knows we want rapist, murderers, and terrorist in Guantanmo bay running around freely. False.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, $1.2 trillion. Good? False
withdrawal from Iraq, because when we pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq, I know the Islamic terrorists will stop trying to kill us because they’ll think we’re a good and decent country. False
more welfare checks! because I’ve seen welfare help so many poor people become self-sufficient and upwardly mobile. false.
redistribution of wealth is capitalism? false.
more taxes! I believe those who are lazy, druggies, high school drop outs, illegals etc. should be entitled to the money I wake up every morning and work my ass off to make! because I think the government will do a better job of spending my money than I could. false.
Tom Daschle, Geithner, Bill Richardson, Hilda Solis, Nancy Killefer, Ron Kirk. Good members of the cabinet that pay a fair tax and are law abiding citzens. false.
Wow, he managed to do all this? under 2 months? congrats Barack on your logocracy
162. anonymouspongebob : Using rhetoric to get elected into office is kinda just the definition of POLITICS. Stop taking the right-wing scare campaigns’ word as gospel and start thinking and formulating your own opinions. Obama = Logocracy is akin to You = Stupid. Just stop and think about if for a second…
162. anonymouspongebob – “Obama = Logocracy, won his votes by his using tricky wording to control its people
All it was, was Rhetoric.”
Oh please… if you go by that definition then EVERY president won by logocracy. JFK was famous for this not only with his speeches but every aspect he portrayed on a national level. In fact a number of political *****ysts believe he helped his cause simply by wearing makeup during for the first televised presidential debate. Fact of the matter is Obama was eloquent enough to override the gaffs of his VP candidate. McCain was mediocre at a national setting standing next to a sad excuse of a partner (even the National Organization for Women would not endorse her); as a campaign ticket, there really was no contest on who would be the best figurehead for the national government. If you’re promoting your logocracy ideas when faced with facts like that, then you’ve a feeble argument. All leadership positions requires some degree of charisma to get people to listen to you in the first place.
Let’s take a look at the the economy, shall we?
-Take temporary federal control of major corrupt businesses
-Largest government spending in history with largest government deficit in history
-Increased federal aid and works projects to provide jobs meaning an increase of taxes
….Obama’s such a prick, right? FALSE. This was taken from FDR’s book, friend. In fact, FDR was criticized when he attempted to lower taxes and reduce economic stimulus too soon as it was detrimental to the the progress of leaving the Great Depression. There were faults with his plans but Obama’s got one up on him as he can learn from FDR’s mistakes. Fact of the matter is that to make money, you gotta spend money. Leaving the debt alone and wishing it away isn’t going to help especially when our debts to other countries are compounding interest. BTW, the whole drama about this being the biggest government spending in history. Take FDR’s spending and include price inflation. The difference is not so staggering then.
I would’ve liked to have heard some actual insight because I also believe parts of the stimulus package is pork barreling but I see that’s not going to happen until you get off your right-wing soap box. Go ahead and continue to complain but see if I bother to respond to empty complaints again… I’m sorry you can’t see things objectively but if it’s such an issue to you, then move out. No one’s stopping you.
Is it only in America where Obama ISNT seen as a good thing for the US and, indeed, the world?
164. gabi319 : Hey! You said what I wanted to, but better. Everyone seems to be doing that these days…
165. cymraegbachgen87 : No, right-wingers everywhere despise him I think. The far-right at least, those kinds of people that like to believe that it’s not there responsibility to help anyone but themselves – if I can do it, I will, who cares if it kills someone?
165. cymraegbachgen87 – “Is it only in America where Obama ISNT seen as a good thing for the US and, indeed, the world?”
Highly unlikely. I saw a photojournal essay where a group in Iraq burned photos of him… The only difference is we Americans are loud and proud and incredibly ignorant. We are fortunate enough to have the freedom to complain and some simply abuse it. The act of complaining doesn’t bother me… it’s the ignorance and passive whining kind of complaints that do.
166. Mark – “You said what I wanted to, but better. Everyone seems to be doing that these days…”
I think his long winded fartiness is rubbing off on me. I really didn’t write near this much when I first started commenting.
Hang around Anon a bit more
I’m taking a break from the political lists. They annoy me. Well, technically it’s not the lists….
163. Mark – “you=stupid” oh wow, that it a well thought out criticism, couldn’t attack the material so you have to attack the speaker. You’re a great person, I want all my children to turn out just like you, people like you make the world such a better place.
165. gabi319 – don’t make miscalculated assumptions and say that I’m right wing. I voted for Kerry a few years back and Gore 4 years before.
I don’t blindly choose which candidate I support because of what party I’m affiliated with.
And since you agree with Obama, I’m sure you agree with his fine choice of Cabinet members. Since they are such great role models, it means I don’t have to pay taxes right?
168. anonymouspongebob : I’m actually very opposed to attacking the person rather than their arguement, but the fact of the matter is that if you believe that stuff without questioning it you are being stupid. Sorry if I insulted you, but that’s my view on the subject. I know the chances of it being “correct” are very slim, but I would settle for “neutral” or “fair”.
Kleptocracy, from the root word klypto, that is the right words for my country Philippines, Being ruled by the Political thieves.
170. Pinoy ako : It’s a shame, because now we (Australia) get a lot of our bananas from the Phillipines
@JK: Are you from Indonesia??? Kleptocracy, Plutocracy and Ethnocracy sounds like Indonesia
Anyone else think #3 looks a little like Rosie the Riveter?
Yaaayyyyyy … Its so lovely to see your country’s flag right over there
btw im Pakistani …
& i have to disagree with the statement thet theocracy is one of the ‘ lesser known or used forms of govt. ‘. It surely has been used a lot of times in Human history.
169. Mark: I’m not actually addressing just this one post, but it’s as handy as any and actually contains a snippit of the item I which to discuss. On.line nicks and intelligence.
I’ve done a sort of study of on.line nicks over the last 10 years, maybe (I don’t remember exactly how long, but it’s been since the inception of ‘bulletin boards’ then ‘chat rooms’ then places like this), and I have come to a preliminary theory; chosen nicks (discounting real names, real nicknames) reflect actual personality, age (either actual or psychological) and intelligence levels. As an example, anonymouspongebob is named for a children’s cartoon, yet he wants to remain anonymous. We are getting mixed signals here. A child who isn’t a child? A teenager who still identifies with his childhood. One who wishes he were still a child and who still thinks as a child thinks.
Of course, I could give you many more examples, but since anonymouspongebob is involved in todays argument, it seemed logical to use him.
segue-how about me. Don`t be afraid to use a$%ho*e as a verb.
176. segue : I hope there’s nothing wrong with being a teenager
bigski: don’t be silly, you’re a friend. Why would I want to call you names?
178. Mark: There is nothing wrong with teenagers! I had 3 myself, and it was one of the most joyous time of my parenting life.
179. segue : Sorry for the delay in replying – really busy with school/sport/music – you actually liked having teenagers? That is the first time I have EVER heard ANYONE say that….