ARISTOTLE'S FORMS OF GOVERNMENT

Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and student of Plato, classified government into three. They are:

1. government based on rule by the one,
2. government based on rule by the few, and
3. government based on rule by the many.

Government based on rule by the one. 

Monarchy (or royalty) is a form of government in which only a single ruler governs. The monarch rules for the benefit of the people. His concern is for good law, order and social justice.

The perverse form of monarchy is called tyranny. He rules for his own benefits and ego, accumulates wealth and satisfies his lust for power. Such a ruler is not legitimate and the people has the right and the duty to remove him in power.

Government based on rule by the few.

Aristocracy is a form of government where only quite a few people participates in governance. The number ranges from ten to twenty, and they are considered the wisest, the most just and the most honest people in the state. They are more contemplative and careful in their actions. Together, they make governmental decisions.

The perverse form of aristocracy is oligarchy where the few people, again perhaps ten to twenty, collectively take over the power of government not for the welfare of the people, but rather for their own material and vainglory. This form of government is more difficult to be overthrown as compared with tyranny.

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Government based on rule by the many.
The best form of government but probably the most difficult to achieve is polity. A polity occurs when all relevant citizens of the state participate in the decision making through open discussion, compromise, and conciliation. Of course, this is only possible in the small city-states that Aristotle knew so well. Again, the characteristics of this government are just, the highest form of wisdom is compromise and conciliation, and government that generally works for the benefit of all.
The perverse form of polity was labeled as democracy. Democracy is a form of government where people would go into the chambers of government not to do social justice but rather seek for their own ends. No one is willing to compromise inorder to achieve solutions to problems. This causes a breakdown in the process of government and eventually a collapse of government.

Over the years, the Aristotle's polity became synonymous with representative government or democracy and his perverse form of polity was renamed as mob rule or anarchy.

STATE VS. GOVERNMENT

State has four basic elements: people, territory, government and sovereignty. The absence of any of these elements will not make a state a state. Thus, the state cannot exists without a government. There can be a government however even without there being a state. Government may exist as long as a particular society wanted to continue to have institutions that will carry out the rules of action which are necessary for them to live in a social state.

A state is permanent while a government is not. A government may come and go, it may be overthrown. But the state continues to be unimpaired and unaffected.

A state is an ideal person, intangible, indivisible and immtable. It can do no wrong. The government is an agency of the state. It is perfect if it acts within the sphere. Whatever done wrong is attributed to the government and not to the state.

DE FACTO AND DE JURE GOVERNMENTS

A de jure government (government of law) is an organized government of a state which has the general support of the people.
A de facto government (government of fact) is a government which actually exercises power or control but without legal title.
There are three kinds of de facto government:

1. the government that gets possession and control of, or usurps by force or by the voice of the majority, the rightful legal government and maintains itself against the will of the latter;
2. that established as an independent government by the inhabitants of a country who rise in insurrection against the parent state; and
3. that which is established and maintained by military forces who invade and occupy a territory of the enemy in the course of war, and which is denominated as a government of paramount force.

The Second Republic of the Philippines was a de facto government of paramount force, having been established by the Japanese belligerents. On the other hand, in a decision rendered by the Supreme Court it declared that the government under Corazon Aquino was a de jure government as the people have already accepted it and the community of nations have recognized its legitimacy.

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GOVERNMENT VS ADMINISTRATION

Government is distinct from administration. Government is the agency which formulates, expresses and realizes the will of the people. On the other hand, administration is composed of group of persons in whose hands the reins of government are for the time being. It is the administration that runs the affairs of the government for a given period of time, after which another administration may be called upon by the people to serve them. That is why we say that administration changes but the government does not.

FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT

There are two functions of government: constituent and ministrant.

Constituent functions are those which constitute the very bonds of society and are compulsory in nature. Examples are keeping of order and providing for the protection of persons and property; the fixing of the legal relations between man and wife, and between parents and child; the regulation of property and the determination of contract rights; the definition and punishment of crime, the administration of justice, the determination of political duties, privileges, and relations of citizens, dealings of the state with foreign powers, the preservation of the state from external danger and the advancement of international interest.

 photo courtesy of http://www.mrdonn.org/

Ministrant functions are those that are undertaken only by way of advancing the general interests of society and are merely optional. Examples are public works, public education, public charity, health and safety regulations and regulations of trade and industry.

FORMS OF GOVERNMENT

The following are the forms of government:

1. As to the number of persons exercising sovereign powers:
• Monarchy - the supreme authority is in the hands of a one person only; how he got into power or how long his tenure would be does not matter 
• Absolute monarchy - the power of the monarch is based on divine right
• Limited monarchy - the power of the monarch is based on the constitution
• Aristocracy - the ruling power is in the hands of a few privileged class
• Democracy - the power is in the hands of the people
• Direct or pure democracy - the power is directly exercised by the people through assembly or mass meeting.
• Indirect, representative or republican - the power is exercised by a group of persons chosen by the people to act as their representatives
2. As to extent of powers exercised by the central or national government:
• Unitary government - the control of national and local affairs is under the central or national government
• Federal government - the powers of the government are divided between two sets of organs, one for national and the other for local affairs, each organ being supreme within its own sphere
3. As to relationship between the executive and the legislative branches of the government:
• Parliamentary government - the executive is dependent on the legislative
• Presidential government - the executive is constitutionally vested with powers making it independent from legislative department
4. Other forms:
• Civil government - the affairs of the state are administered and directed by the citizens or their representatives
• Military government - established and administered by a  belligerent in the territory of an enemy occupied by him
• Constitutional government - the powers of those who rule are defined and limited by the constitution
• Despotic government -  the powers of those who rule are vague and may seem limitless because it is not defined nor limited by the constitution
• Elective government - the state confers powers upon a person or organization chosen by qualified voters and the holding of powers is for a limited term and under certain conditions
• Hereditary government - the state confers the powers of government upon a person or organization standing in a certain family relations to his or their immediate predecessors
• Coordinate government -  the powers of the government is distributed among separate departments equally independent of but coordinate with each other
• Consolidated government - the state confides all governmental powers to a single body
• De jure government - established according to the constitution of the state and has the general support of the people
• De facto government - established against existing constitution of the state and is maintained against the rightful and lawful government
• Revolutionary government - installed, whether by force or otherwise, not in accordance with the procedure prescribed in an existing constitution

The Philippines is a representative, unitary, presidential  civil, constitutional, elective, coordinate, and de jure government. In a way, it also exercises direct or pure democracy because of the constitutional provision on initiative and referendum.

GOVERNMENT

Government as an element of the state is the agency or aggregate of institutions that formulates, expresses and realizes the will of the state. In a comprehensive note, the government embraces all the political institutions existing in the state, from the highest governmental agency to the lowest administrative bodies. The Philippine Government for example, encompasses all its agencies, from the Office of the President down to its smallest political agency - the barangays.

Purpose and necessity
Government is created for the benefit of the people governed. It performs services or functions that are beyond the capabilities of any individual or enterprise. The chief purposes of government are: the maintenance of peace and order, the protection of persons and property, the administration of justice, the promotion of education, the preservation of the state from external danger, and the advancement of the physical, economic and social and cultural well-being of the people. (De Leon, 1991)

The organized structure of the government enables the state to smoothly administer its affairs. Without government, chaos and disorder will prevail.