​AUTOCRACY

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DEMOCRACY​

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Government Types:

In a democratic government, power lies with the citizens because they have the power to vote. In different democratic countries, there are different positions the people can fill by voting. They can elect a legislature to run the country (parliamentary democracy), a legislature and a separate executive (presidential democracy), or voting on laws directly (direct democracy). In any democratic society, the people have many rights and freedoms, such as ability to vote, to engage in political speech, and to run for office.

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Democratic Governments

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Democracy is rule by the people. In a democracy, all citizens that choose to vote have a say in their government. There are two basic forms of representative democracy: presidential and parliamentary.

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Presidential and Parliamentary Democracies

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In a Presidential Democracy, voters directly elect the individual who holds executive power typically called a president. They then also vote again, to elect the members of their legislature.

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Presidential Democracy

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In a Parliamentary Democracy, voters only elect a legislature to pass laws (typically called a parliament) and then the party with the most votes, chooses one of its members to enforce the laws (typically called the prime minister.) While the people do not directly choose the Chief Executive as in a presidential democracy, they can still change the Chief Executive by electing more members of the other party to Parliament.

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​Parliamentary Democracy

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An autocratic government is one in which absolute authority is invested in one leader. In an autocracy, the people have few if any rights. They do not get to choose their leaders or vote on laws. If people disagree with their leader, there is no authorized recourse (option) to action.

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Autocratic Government

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Examples of autocracies include not only dictatorships and absolute monarchies, but also nominally (in name only) democratic societies in which the leaders deny basic rights like freedom of press and speech, arrest political opponents to suppress opposition, or engage in election fraud such that voting is not meaningful.

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​Autocratic Government Examples

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