COGO 1.3

democratic regimes are based on the will of the people

authoritarian regimes are based on decisions made by political elites without much input from citizens and may include illiberal democracies or hybrid regimes, one-party states, theocracies, totalitarian governments and military regimes

Civil Rights is the protection of groups of citizens from discrimination by the government or other individuals

Civil Liberties is an individual’s protection against abuse of powers by the government

transparency is the ability of citizens to access information about a government’s policy making and policy implementation to help hold officials accountable 

free and fair elections allow competition so that an opposition candidate and party can defeat the ruling candidate and party

rule of law the principle that a state should be governed by law and not arbitrary decisions made by individual government officials

Independence of governmental branches prevents any one branch from controlling all governmental power

separation of powers the independence of the legislative, executive and judicial branches

checks and balances the system that prevents any one branch of government from becoming too powerful

Illiberal democracies and hybrid regimes that hold elections with little competition toward the ruling party and that tend to have diminished civil liberties.

One-party states like China in which rival parties are prohibited from controlling governmental power.

Theocracies require the state be controlled by leaders of a particular religion

Totalitarian governments severely limit citizens’ rights to movement and free choice of employment.

Military regimes when military leaders hold top positions of governing authority