Navid Mazumder (Y8): Systems of governance

In our world, society has decided to split up and claim their different pieces of land to rule over and control different amounts of land and people. This is the basic definition of a country. Countries are usually led by one person in power (a leader), or a whole body of people, which is named a government. However, most governments use different ways of leading their country, or the way they get elected (are put in power). In this article, I will go over some different forms of government which we have learnt in our Global Citizenship lessons in Year 8.

To start this off, the country we live in, the UK is a 'constitutional monarchy'. This is a government form where a Monarch (a person who gets their power through the heritage of the crown) and the Parliament. The parliament is an assembly of people who vote and discuss different laws and whether or not they should happen. The Parliament is where the power is mostly held, it is also where the democratic decisions are made. There are three main functions of the government which are: to debate issues (discuss problems that are happening currently in their country), examine the work of the government (see if the Prime Minister is doing their work properly) and make laws (different groups of people all need to agree on one for it to be created). Simon de Montfort first made Parliament in 1265, when he called for representatives from different areas of the country. 

The Parliament is split into three different segments (including two houses). These parts include the House of Commons (650 MPs), the House of Lords (consisting of ~800 Lords) and the Monarch, who is currently King Charles III. At first, the House of Commons discuss and debate a law. Once a majority of the MPs agree on it, the law is sent to the House of Lords. This House is full of Lords and Ladies, some get their roles from their family whilst others are appointed. In the Lords, the bill (the law trying to be passed) is scrutinised and checked over. Once they are happy with it, they can send it back to the Commons and they will see if they are happy with it as well, if not they will change it and send it back. This is known as 'parliamentary ping-pong'. Most bills originate in the Commons although some may appear from the Lords. Finally, when both Houses agree on the bill, it is sent to the King (or Queen) for 'royal assent'. This is when the monarch gives consent for the bill to be enacted, but they haven’t officially said no since 1708! By now, the bill becomes an act and a part of the law. This is called the 'Westminster system' and is common in ex-colonial countries but there are other ways to run a country. 

Another famous way of running a country is a 'presidential republic', where instead of a parliament, there is one person who is elected to have executive power - the president. In many cases, the president is elected as both the head of government and the head of state. This is in contrast to most parliamentary governments where the head of state is separate from the head of government and plays a largely symbolic role. Famous examples of presidential republics are the United States of America, Brazil and France.

However, there are other types of government that are not in the category of a republic, which is a 'dictatorship'. This is where the government has absolute power and it is helped by only one singular person or a small group of people. Usually a dictatorship gets into power through force, for instance they could stage a military coup against the people who are already in power.

Lastly, another variation of a government body is when there is none. This is known as an 'anarchy'. Usually, this is initiated because the people of the society believe that there are no classes and that everybody should be equal, with no one having more or less power than another person. Although, it should be noted that being in an anarchist society does not mean that there are no laws to follow, it is only that there is no governing group who has power over other people. Contrary to popular belief, a government that is an anarchy is not always chaotic as fiction may state it to be and sometimes may lead to having more success and peace when compared to other governmental systems. There are not many anarchist groups in our current day, however a notable example of one is the stateless nomadic group located in Southeast Asia called the Zomia. Supposedly, the tribe lives in peace with everyone having respect and kindness towards each other.

Navid Mazumder (Y7)

Global Citizenship subject prefect