Political Systems

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All countries require leadership in some form. These governmental powers provide leadership, make decisions, and maintain order for that nation. How they come into power and enforce their control determines the type of government that is established. Throughout the world, there are five main forms of Government: Totalitarian, Authoritarian, Parliamentarian, Monarchy, and Unitary. All five of these are prevalent today and have different characteristics that distinguish them form one another.
Totalitarian societies involve “total domination, limited neither by received laws or codes nor even the boundaries of governmental functions, since they obliterate the distinction between state and society…. Totalitarian is limited only by the need large numbers of people in a state of constant activity controlled by the elite.”(Understanding Politics) Two countries that practice this form of government are Cuba and Romania.
Cuba an island located in the Caribbean established their independence on January 1, 1959. Religions such as Protestantism, Judaism, and Santeria were prevalent until Castro’s establishment of power, in which Catholicism was made the primary religion. Cuba’s primary source of income is in the exportation of sugar and nickel, due to recent decline in earnings though, tourism has become a significant resource of income. On February 24, 1976, Castro abolished the office of Prime Minister and named himself the President of the Council of Ministries and President of the Council of the State. As President, Castro created a single party system, Partido Comunisto Cubano, to ensure reelection, and sanctioned powers of the PCC in the constitution. This insured his dictatorship of Cuba.
South Vietnam is another example of a communist regime. A very poor country, they have never fully recovered the devastating effects of war and the loss of financial backing of the old U.S.S.R. The leader’s main goal of maintaini...