Apart from democracy what other forms of governments are there?

Graphic of 4 groups of people. People are wearing suits, have a disability, are tall and short.

Graphic of people in Parliament

Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)

Graphic of people in Parliament

Graphic of 4 groups of people. People are wearing suits, have a disability, are tall and short.

Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)

Description

A graphic representing all the different types of people who are members of the Australian Parliament.

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Democracy is when people have a say in the governing of their country, for example by electing people to represent them in a parliament. Many forms of government are democratic; other forms of government are not democratic.

Australia is a representative democracy.

A representative democracy is a system in which the people vote for delegates to represent their interests in a parliament. In Australia, members of parliament are elected to the Senate or the House of Representatives to represent the Australian people and make laws on their behalf.

Other representative democracies include:

  • Parliamentary Republic (India, Poland)
  • Federal Republic (Argentina, Brazil, Germany)
  • Democratic Republic (United States of America, Indonesia)

Other forms of government which you might want to research include:

  • Monarchy where a monarch is the head of state and supreme ruler
  • Dictatorship rule by one person with supreme authority
  • Oligarchy where a country is governed by a few people
  • Theocracy where a country is governed according to religious rules, usually by ordained members of that religion (clergy)
  • One-party rule where a country is governed by only one political party and other political parties are not allowed