Authors: Bogdanor
Summary: This entry, in over 2700 words, defines government, discusses different forms of government, and distinguishes between presidential and cabinet systems.
According to the entry, "government is the authoritative expression of the state," and its formal functions include legislative, juridical and administrative elements. The scope of these government activities has increased tremendously over the last one or two centuries. The term 'government' may also refer to "the method by which a society is governed."
There are many possible ways to classify governments, and one simple method of distinguishing contemporary governments is by placing them in one of two categories: liberal constitutional or authoritarian. Liberal constitutional governments may be republican, where the head of state is elected, or a monarchy, where the state reins are inherited. Regardless of specific form, liberal constitutional governments are characterized by competitive political parties and constitutional limits on state power. Authoritarian governments differ even more in form, and can range from one person or family rule to a dominant ruling party that controls society.
Another way of distinguishing between governments is based on the relationship between governing institutions, and there are two dimensions to this distinction. First, is the diffusion of power within a single level of government, and the second is the diffusion of power vertically between levels of government. Generally, the first distinction is between presidential and cabinet systems, and the second refers to relationships between federal and unitary systems. The entry provides an excellent discussion of these distinctions with examples. By way of general conclusion, this lengthy entry reaffirms the meaning of government--in its broadest sense, government is the system and institutions of governance.