Forms of Government

REPUBLIC is the designation of most civil governments on the planet today. The term comes from Latin, res publica (“public affair”) and the term “commonwealth” is a loose synonym. The modern term stems from Plato’s Republic (375 BC), a work that described the inherent problems of absolute power and a potential solution. Plato described a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or appointed executive officer rather than a monarch. From the beginning of western politics, philosophy played an important role in political theory. To Plato, the head of state ought to be chosen from a pool of potential “philosopher kings,” who spend their lives studying the wisdom needed to be a ruler – rather than an inherited office. Plato imagined a republic to be the perfect city-state, but did not describe the government of a civilization or nation-state. However, the republican model works for a larger state as well.

FEDERAL REPUBLIC or FEDERALISM describes a republic with a balance of power. In modern civil governments this usually entails two branches of government with a parliament (or congress) and judiciary – or three with an added executive office. The parliament/congress is usually divided in a bicameral system with a lower and upper house. Having three branches is supposed to balance power so one does not become abusive. In the United States, the congress legislates, holds the purse strings, and has the power to declare war; the president has veto power over congress, and is the commander in chief of the armed forces; the judiciary may nullify a congressional act it deems unconstitutional, and hear cases from lower courts that have been challenged as unconstitutional. “The federal government” is often used as a synonym for the national government, but the original meaning implied a constitutional framework describing a balance of power. “Federal” is also a synonym for covenantal or constitutional authority. For example, a father is the “covenantal head” of the household, but must not abuse his authority, and use discipline wisely not exasperating his children (Colossians 3:21). Federalism represents the ideal that we are governed by law and not man.

CENTRALIZED vs. LOCAL GOVERNMENT refers to an additional safeguard of a federal republic with lower government at the state or provincial level. National government is the central government. Lower regional and state governments also have executive, congressional and judicial branches. Government is further localized at the county and municipal level. The tendency in politics is to begin with strong local power and a just balance of powers. As a nation grows, it tends to become more centralized and corrupted with the national and state governments usurping powers reserved to local levels, and the executive and judiciary overstepping their bounds in the creation of new laws. In the US, the president has had ever increasing war powers since the last declaration of war in 1941. Through executive decree, the US has initiated the invasion of dozens of countries and has ordered numerous foreign military actions, while denying congress the constitutional responsibility of declaring war.

DEMOCRACY comes from the Greek words demos, meaning people, and kratos meaning power. So democracy can be thought of as “power of the people,” or a way of governing that depends on the will of the people. In the 1971 film, Cromwell, King Charles I (played by Sir Alec Guinness) is given an ironic line of dialog, “Democracy, Mister Cromwell, was a Greek drollery based on the foolish notion that there are extraordinary possibilities in very ordinary people.”¹⁷ In a pure democracy, there would be no representatives, but each law and governmental act would be passed by the direct vote or referendum of the people. Such a system exists in some town governments and even small nations such as Iceland. However, when most people mention “democracy” (e.g., “Our nation was founded as a democracy”) what they really mean is a “republic.” Democracies on a national level are almost impossible. Typically, a state should call itself a “democratic republic,” which means government through elected representatives. However, even with fair representation in voting, the majority rules. Therefore, a democracy can become the “tyranny of the 51 percent.” In this way, a self-proclaimed “democracy” can eventually develop into a type of autocracy.

AUTOCRACY is a system of government by one person with absolute power. It includes some forms of monarchy and most forms of dictatorship, while it is contrasted with democracy. As in the impossibility of a democracy, it is doubtful that a pure autocracy exists. The ruler will always have civil ministers that take some part in the rulership, even if it is on an administrative level. Further, there are always mechanisms by which the military or people can overthrow an ineffective or abusive autocrat. By the 20th century, whether a nation was viewed as an autocracy or dictatorship was often determined by whether the national government, especially the executive power, was chosen by a fair vote of the people. Western leaders will often perceive a dictatorship if a nation’s governmental policies do not align with the values of Liberalism – or if a foreign government is not easily persuaded or controlled by Western hegemony. Saudi Arabia is not often called a dictatorship due to its economic relationship with the Western oil market. However, the Saudis are ruled by a hereditary monarch with almost absolute power. On the other hand, Iran is often derided as a dictatorship, but has had free elections since 1979. In fact, Iran is one of the most “democratic” republics of all the Muslim nations in the region. Women cannot vote in Saudi Arabia, but they vote in Iran. Most often, an autocracy is perceived if a country has an election process that is unfair, or rigged toward an overwhelmingly large ruling party as is the case in China and Russia. However, we also find such unfair processes in nations that are touted as “democracies.” For example, Estonia has made its citizenship rules in such a way that the Russian minority finds it difficult to get the right to vote. In Fiji, the electoral system is such that the vote of an indigenous Fiji has more value than the vote of an Indian Fiji. As of the writing of this book, the nation of Ukraine was under martial law, had outlawed all opposition parties, and had suspended the scheduled 2024 elections. Yet Ukraine was frequently called a “sovereign democracy” by our Western leaders.

TYRANNY is from the Greek word tyrannos and the Latin, turannos. In Ancient Greece, the word tyrant did not necessarily have a negative connotation and signified the holder of absolute political power. It is also related to the same root from which we get our words, “terror” and “terrible.” Thus Tyrannosaurus rex is the “king of the terrifying lizards.” A tyrant is an autocrat who rules by terror. In modern times, tyranny is a simple synonym for autocracy and dictatorship. However, tyrannies can exist in so-called democracies too. As described above under “autocracy,” much of Western perception of tyranny is rooted in how emerging economies conform to Liberal democratic values and cooperate economically with the West.

MONARCHY is the rule by a hereditary king or queen. In ancient times, monarchs were despots ruling autocratically. Since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, monarchical power had to be shared (at least in theory) with the king’s barons. The Magna Carta established certain enumerated human rights in the civil realm, such as the right of the Church to be free from governmental interference, the rights of all free citizens to own and inherit property, to be protected from excessive taxes, the right of due process, and equality before the law. It also contained provisions forbidding bribery and official misconduct.

CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY is a republican system with a monarch who has a limited role. Since the late Middle Ages, power has shifted away from monarchs toward republican government. Since the 17th century, English monarchs have submitted to a parliament with a lower House of Commons and a House of Lords, and has had a constitutional government. In recent times, the monarch has had provisions to use certain powers in case of national crisis, but mostly the office exists as a type of ceremonial figurehead and to preserve a sense of historical pride in the nation’s civilization.

OLIGARCHY is “rule by a few” (from Greek: olígos – “few,” and árkhō – “to rule”) or a government in which power rests with a small number of people who get their authority from nobility, fame, wealth, education – or from religious, political, military positions – or some other type of corporate control.

FEUDALISM is a medieval oligarchy in which ruling authority is decentralized through several levels of inherited royalty and those loyal to the rulers. In some systems, commoners were given the right to attain knighthood through military service or other show of loyalty to a king or royal family.

¹⁷ I call this line “ironic” because it was never uttered in real life, and it never would have occurred to a 17th century Puritan to advocate for “democracy.” What they proposed instead was representation for the landed gentry in parliament and the abolition of the idea of the “divine right of kings.” The motto appearing at the end of the movie on Cromwell’s memorial in Westminster Abbey is closer to reality, “Christ not man is king.”

Glossary Headings

Political Theories
Modern Political Movements
Forms of Government
Modern Political Counterfeits
Political World Orders
Culture and Society
Epistemology
Globalism
Regional and Global Organizations
World Reserve Currency
World Financial Organizations
Globalist Think Tanks, Theories, and Doctrines

Book

The Fourth Political Theory in Biblical Perspective

Jay Rogers

A Christian civilization is emerging from under the wreckage of Modern culture.

A Christian civilization is emerging from under the chaos that has been strewn throughout the wreckage of Modern culture. As dawn breaks through the darkness, many will be awakened to a new understanding of the fulfillment of the Law through love and grace. Many will comprehend, as if for the first time, what it means to be truly human. We are being prepared to overcome a world system that has denied God, faith, family, and even humanity itself. This book analyzes and critiques several leading experts in the theory of the rising multipolar world including –

• The Changing World Order by Ray Dalio
• The Clash of Civilizations by Samuel Huntington
• The Fourth Political Theory by Aleksandr Dugin