forms of government

A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, often a state. It is the political control of a country of people by a governing body, that has as its purpose the providership of greater organized forms for sake of the people, including law, law enforcement, a military, education, civil engineering, scientific research, and industry.

In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a means by which state policies are enforced, as well as a mechanism for determining the policy. Each government has a kind of constitution which is a statement of its governing philosophy, in which is expressed the philosophical form of the nation. Typically the philosphy chosen is some balance between the principle of individual freedom and the idea of absolute state authority (tyranny).

While all types of organizations have governance, the word government is often used more specifically to refer to the approximately 200 independent national governments on Earth, as well as subsidiary organizations.

Historically prevalent forms of government include aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, theocracy and tyranny. The main aspect of any philosophy of government is how political power is obtained, with the two main forms being electoral contest and hereditary succession.