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Government

Any system whereby political authority is exercised. Modern systems of government distinguish between liberal democracies, totalitarian (one-party) states, and autocracies (authoritarian, relying on force rather than ideology). The Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first to attempt a systematic classification of governments. His main distinctions were between government by one person, by few, and by many (monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy), although the characteristics of each may vary between states and each may degenerate into tyranny (rule by an oppressive elite in the case of oligarchy or by the mob in the case of democracy).

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Louis Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877) Acclaimed by the National Assembly, 16th June 1877 (chromolitho)Paul Keating, a former prime minister of...
Ariel Sharon, 2002.
Oleg Popov/Getty...Vietnamese prime minister Vo Van Kiet addresses...

REFERENCES

  • White's, Leonard D.The Jeffersonians (New York: Macmillan, 1951), The Jacksonians (New York: Macmillan, 1954), and The Republican Era, 1869-1901 (New York: Macmillan, 1958) survey administrative history. The chapters by Norman K. Risjord, “Congress in the Federalist-Republican Era, 1789-1828,” pp. 89-106; Bogue, Allan G., “The U.S. Congress: The Era of Party Patronage and Sectional Stress, 1829-1881,” pp. 107-129; and Nelson, Garrison, “The Modernizing Congress, 1870-1930,” pp. 131-156, in Silbey, Joel H., ed., Encyclopedia of the American Legislative System (New York: Scribner's, 1994), vol. 1, trace developments in Congress.Skowronek, Stephen, The Politics Presidents Make (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1993), discusses styles of executive leadership.Paul Studenski; Herman E. Krooss, Financial History of the United States (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963), review finances.Alfred H. Kelly; Winfred A. Harbison; Herman BelzThe American Constitution (New York: Norton, 1983), cover legal issues.Young, James Sterling, The Washington Community, 1800-1828 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1966), profiles the early federal establishment.Taylor, George Rogers, The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860 (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1951), provides an overview of antebellum economic policy, Morton Keller's Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1977) is a wide-ranging study of the late 1800s.Gates, Paul W., History of Public Land Law Development (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968); Millett, Allan R.Maslowski, Peter, For the Common Defense: The Military History of the United States (New York: Free Press, 1984); and Dupree, A. Hunter, Science in the Federal Government (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1957), examine particular functions.
  • Aguilar, Camín Hector, and Meyer, Lorenzo. In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution: Contemporary Mexican History, 1910–1989. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993.
  • Camp, Roderic Ai. Politics in Mexico. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
  • Giugale, Marcelo M., Lafourcade, Olivier, and Nguyen, Vinh H., eds. Mexico: A Comprehensive Development Agenda for the New Era. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2001.

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