Forms of Government: Democracy, Dictatorship, Unitary and Federal
What the exam tests
This domain asks you to classify governments by who rules and by how power is distributed territorially: democracy versus dictatorship, and unitary versus federal.
Core rules and concepts
- Democracy: government by consent, accountable rulers, rule of law and free elections. Direct democracy uses the referendum, initiative and recall; indirect democracy uses representatives.
- Dictatorship: power concentrated, often seized, without free elections; totalitarian dictatorship controls all social life.
- Unitary state: one centre of power; local bodies are creatures of the centre (UK, France).
- Federal state: the constitution divides powers between union and states; each level has a defined jurisdiction (USA, India, Australia).
Worked example
'Classify India.' Reason: India has a written constitution, two levels of government, division of powers in the Seventh Schedule, a bicameral Parliament and an independent judiciary - federal features. But it also has a single citizenship, a Governor appointed by the President, emergency provisions and residuary powers with the Union - unitary features. Answer: a federation with a strong unitary bias, not a pure federation.
Traps
Do not say India is unitary because it has a strong centre; federalism is about constitutional division, not equal strength. Do not confuse direct democracy with representative elections. Do not treat dictatorship as always military; it can be one-party or personalist. Do not say a unitary state has no local government.