GOVERNMENTS AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS

Feudalism

Decentralized political system based on mutual obligations between lords, vassals, and serfs (e.g., Medieval Europe, Japan)

Manorialism

Economic system where peasants worked the lord’s land in exchange for protection (e.g., Medieval Europe)

Theocracy

Government ruled by religious leaders or based on divine authority (e.g., Islamic Caliphates, Tibet under Buddhist monks)

Bureaucracy

Government organized with appointed officials handling various functions (e.g., Song Dynasty China, Persian Empire)

Absolute Monarchy

Monarch holds all power, often justified by Divine Right (e.g., France under Louis XIV, Russia under Peter the Great)

Shogunate

Military dictatorship in Japan where the shogun ruled in the emperor’s name (e.g., Tokugawa Japan)

Gunpowder Empire

Centralized Islamic states that expanded using gunpowder weapons (e.g., Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal Empires)

Colonial Empire

Empire that controls overseas colonies for economic and political gain (e.g., Spanish Empire in the Americas, British Empire)

Encomienda System

Spanish colonial forced labor system where Indigenous people worked for landowners (e.g., Spanish colonies in the Americas)

Liberal Democracy

Government based on Enlightenment ideals and elected representation (e.g., post-revolution United States and France)

Republic

State without a monarch, where officials are elected to represent the people (e.g., United States, Revolutionary France)

Nationalism

Ideology that people with a shared culture and language should form a sovereign state (e.g., German and Italian unification movements)

Capitalism

Economic system based on private ownership and free markets (e.g., Industrial Britain, United States)

Socialism

Economic system advocating public or collective ownership of production (e.g., early European labor movements)

Communism

Radical socialism aiming for a classless, stateless society with shared property (e.g., Soviet Union, Maoist China)

Imperialism

Policy of extending a nation's power through conquest or colonization (e.g., British rule in India, French West Africa)

Constitutional Monarchy

Monarch’s power is limited by a constitution or parliament (e.g., Britain after 1688, modern Japan)

Fascism

Authoritarian, nationalist government rejecting democracy and promoting state control (e.g., Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy)

Totalitarianism

Government with complete control over public and private life (e.g., Stalin’s USSR, North Korea)

Communist State

Single-party government claiming to represent workers and abolishing private property (e.g., USSR, Cuba, Mao’s China)

Democracy

Government by the people through elected representatives (e.g., India, United States)

Military Dictatorship

Government ruled by military leaders, often after a coup (e.g., Chile in the 1970s, Myanmar)

Non-alignment

Cold War policy of neutrality between U.S. and USSR blocs (e.g., India, Yugoslavia)

Decolonization State

Newly independent country with mixed political systems after colonial rule (e.g., Ghana, Indonesia)