Types of governance

Throughout history, governments have had various forms and perhaps there have been different governments as many as the number of the countries which have existed.
In the world, today, some governments are generally divided into three categories:
1. The ruling of one person over the people (dictatorship or monarchy).
2. The ruling of a category and group over the people, or in other words, the one-party rule (such as aristocracy).
3. The rule of people over people (democracy).
According to the words of Montesquieu), the governments have three categories:
1. The republic in which all or part of the nation even has a right to participate in the government.
2. Monarchy and constitutional monarchy, where the king after consultation with the representatives of the people may rule the country.
3. Illegal monarchy, in which the king rules over the country on the basis of personal whim
Then he adds: If the government of a republic is through all the people (i.e., democracy) and if it is on part of some people (i.e., aristocracy) – which means the rule of the aristocrats.
Aristotle also knows three forms of government:
1. The public administration (Democratic Republic), all of the people whom are participating by the votes and such a government is accepted by a majority vote to end the disputes. In this form of government, justice and equality must be optimally established among all people.
2. The rule of the nobility (aristocracy), a group of powerful and aristocratic individuals rule and appropriate the levels of control and give themselves artificial positions and labels.
3. The monarchy government (in the form of a Kingdom), a strong man takes control over the people and will rule and reign in his own family.
Them, about the weakness in the expression of the three governments, he continues to say: in the two cases mentioned earlier, tyranny will be prevalent in the society, while the first part produces guile and deception and spreads them among the people.
In addition, Machiavelli believes that different types of governance happen by accident and he writes:
It is important to mention that some of those who have written about the existence of three types of government generally believe in the existence of these three types only: 1.The rule of one person (Monarchy), 2.The rule of the nobility (aristocracy), 3.The rule of people over people (Democracy); and they say that anyone who wants to rule over a city must choose one of those figures who one thinks is better than the other choices.
Some of the writers who are wiser than the first group, believe that six forms of government exist and, of these, three of them are very bad and the other three are good in their nature, but they are subject to degeneration as it is possible that they might become absolutely a source of misery. The three previously mentioned kinds are of the good nature and the bad kinds of government may emerge as a result of the decline of these good types. Each of them is so similar in its original form. The transition from one to another can be done with great ease. Monarchy can easily become tyranny, aristocracy can easily turn into oligarchy and democracy might turn into anarchy.
In another division, the usual and customary forms of government include: 1.The dictatorship or the domination of the individual or the absolute monarchy, 2.Constitutional monarchy, 3.Republic, 4.the one part rule.
Nevertheless, with regard to the above items and taking into account the principles of the rule of a religious community, the ruling can be divided into three types:
1. Autocratic rule, autocratic and individual dominance
2. Democracy
3. Theocracy
Although very briefly, it is necessary here to explain and review the various governments and see the Islamic religious community and what is the system of government.
1. The dictatorial and authoritarian governments: this form of government is based on the rule of an individual or a specific group. Based on the will of the individual or the group, everything goes around and, of course, this kind of government only provides the benefits to the same people, and the result is the misery and slavery of the society. In this kind of government, the will of the people and their well-being do not have any role.
One form of dictatorship is (totalitarianism). In totalitarian regimes, not only a (dictatorial) government is in control, but also the economy, housing, school, press, radio, cinema, mosques and churches, and, if possible, the spirit and thought of all the people are under their control.
In the next debate, in this regard, and about the fundamental difference of such a regime with an Islamic state, especially the Islamic State, some facts will be noted.
It is also worth mentioning that in the Imperial and Royal Government whose features are hereditary through succession, sometimes the monarchy is limited by the Legislature. This type of government is called the constitutional monarchy (although in truth the King enjoys the main influence), and sometimes he has the authority and unlimited powers and the authority of the state is in the hands of the king. The three branches of power are at times influenced by the monarch which is called the absolute monarchy. The administration of the government in such a regime is only based on the desire and wish his Majesty. What he wills should be done, although it might involve killing thousands of innocent men, women and children. In this regime, the use of force is a key element, and with the stimulation of the vandal groups and with the support by unidentified thugs, they try to strengthen the foundations of the government!
The authoritarian rule has different branches: sometimes an individual despotism, and, at other times, the tyranny of a political party, so that a small minority of the party with the most dominant force may impose their thoughts upon the people. The same case was seen about what the Marxists were advocating as the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Hobbes, the famous English philosopher, has identified two forms of dictatorship:
1. The acquired totalitarian state; it is acquired by force to obtain the power, and power is observed when through the force people, from the fear of death or capture, have to authorize all the actions of the person or associations that govern their lives and their freedom. In an acquired state, people surrender themselves to the one they fear most.
The second type of absolutism is the one that Hobbes promotes himself and such a state he considers to be legitimate while the former was non-legitimate and that is the established absolute government. He says that the other form of regime is that people should agree between themselves to willingly go under the command of a person or an association of persons for the purpose that the person or association will protect them from harm that the others may do.
However, in this particular type of reading of the government, the authoritarian character is the legislator, while he is not restricted by the law and by any constraint.
Review and criticism: There is no doubt that authoritarian forms of government and its branches are the worst type and has a great number of evils. Most of the tremors afflicting the human society in the history of humanity have been of this kind, in the form of murder, torture, unreasonable and destructive wars, seizure of assets, bringing the poor under oppression, discrimination and injustice of all kinds, consuming the social capital in the orgy of sensuality and of autocratic regimes which are the outcomes of such authoritarian regimes.
In one verse of the Holy Quran, justice is uttered so exquisitely:
“The authoritarian rulers when they arrive in a prosperous area, they begin to kill and cause corruption for the humble ones and they always do such a thing.”
Whether dictatorship is by an individual or a group, this makes no difference, and the most explicit and clear example of such a dictatorship is that of the communist party of the Soviet Union which brought about many great disasters.
2. The Democracy party: the democratic government, whether a constitutional democracy or a republic democracy are the greatest and most complete types of governments in the world. In this system of government, it is axiomatic that all people of every group and class, will go to the ballot boxes to vote freely and leave the interests of the people and the state by appointing a committee to run the country. This form of government determines that the head of the delegation is chosen sometimes by the elected representatives (the representative government) and sometimes directly by the people under the title of president who forms the department of a responsible government. The latter is called the Democratic Republic and suggests that it is theory or practice of the Democratic Republic of the alleged cradle of liberty even in countries where the last of the great impact of advertising in which the astonishing impacts of the commercials and propaganda are such that the president, rather than being the representative of the majority, is a minority representative. Then this type of government is also divided into two types: an aspect that seems really popular, and this in the past and today's world is very small and may not exist and the other kind is one which has a flavor of the government of the people, but in reality it is not. Rather, it is the spirit of the tyranny and has the appearance of democracy!
Another important thing about democracy is that while democracy means the freedom of individuals and their rule over their own destiny, given the history of its emergence, democracy is placed against theocracy - namely the rule of the people against the rule of God, and freedom from the pressure of religion; otherwise, leaving the burden of tyranny and gaining freedom is not limited to forming a democracy by the rejection of religion; rather, it is possible to accept the rule of God and attain freedom at the same time.
It is also worth mentioning that the Iranian regime is known as the Islamic Republic which means that the Iranian government is also a republic, but not a democratic republic such as the ones we see in many countries, especially in the West. Nevertheless this republic is Islamic in nature and being a republic is not being independent Islam and is the same thing. We may quote professor martyr Motahari (peace be upon him): The word ‘republic’ is suggestive of the form of government proposed and the word ‘Islamic’ expresses the content of this government. That suggests that the government is run by Islamic rules, and to move in the orbit of Islamic principles, because we know that Islam as a religion is at the same time, a school and an ideology. It is a plan for human life and dignity in all its dimensions.
Imam Khomeini (peace be upon him) says in this regard: what our nation wants the Islamic Republic and not just a Republic, not a democratic republic, not the Islamic Democratic Republic, rather an Islamic Republic.
Review and criticism: a democracy, if it is truly democratic and has the popular aspects of a democracy can, in many ways, have failures and shortcomings because:
1. In most countries where democratic governments have apparently or really been used, many people actually do not participate in the elections. For instance, only sixty or seventy percent or even less of the population takes part in the election and sometimes, a group of the people win the majority while they are not a majority in the community, for example, thirty nine percent against nine percent.
If there are many such examples, a minority of the population has taken the reins of government and its majority is dominated by them, and obviously they set the rules and regulations of the society according to their own group interests, and there is a gross injustice.
2.With the assumption that all people who have the right to participate in elections, have participated without exception, (of course, it is an assumption that has never really been realized), again a weak majority may arise, for example, 51% or more vote one person. How can we justify the rule of the President over the remaining 49% or less of the population?
This is actually a type of tyranny of the majority against the minority, which dominates all the democracies, both tangible and non-tangible.
3. Assuming that neither of these two forms is taken by the democracy! This is another major failure of the democratic government to follow the wishes of the majority of people and if there are deviations within the majority, then, they can show up with protests, petitions, meetings and other ways to persuade their representatives to act according to what the people want in legal form.
For instance, in these regimes: the day that people ask for the free sexual relationships between boys and girls, the representatives have to give their desires a legal form and when, after some time, the corruption goes up, the representatives are again asked to amend the situation. Whatever the case, the way these regimes are controlled is by the desire of the people and not their well-being.
3.The divine rule: a government that is not based on the will of the person or persons, not on the basis of the majority of people allege, but on the will of Allah is a God-centered and God-oriented government which is not a democracy and certainly the God’s will provides the real materials for his servants. In this type of ruling, the main rule is for God and from God that the prophets and Imams and those with special circumstances have the right to govern on behalf of the divinity and thus find legitimacy.
In this form of government, the triple shortcomings which are present in democracies do not exist. Also, a person or a group of persons do not rule over the people in an authoritarian fashion – neither do the capitalists win and nor the authority of a majority over a minority of people, and nor the harmony with the environment deviant desires; but the righteous rule and the proposed rule given by the prophets and the apostles of God.
Theocracy, Islamic rule, and representation
Although these three terms (theocracy), (Islamic government) and (Velayat Faqih) are used together in a society like that of the Islamic Republic of Iran to express the same notion, in terms of importance and particular relationship that exists between them, they need separate explanations and, at times, some users of these terms, sometimes use the terms with a specific purpose.
In some cultures, theocracy is presented differently because the theocracy, which means Godly, is historically observed in two different forms. Yet, the most absurd form is a belief in the divinity the figure who reigns in communities and this has been prevalent in old and elementary regimes such as Egypt, India and China that have an ancient history. The second kind is observed in the world of the Christian theocracy of the church which recognizes a kind of divine right to rule. In their view, the rulers who are confirmed by the church have acquired their right to rule over the people directly from the God and God has chosen them to rule over the people.
Observed that theocracy means its both, not just Islam, other religions are involved.
But the rule of Velayat which is a particular model of Islamic religious rule, in addition to accepting the authority of Islam and its teachings, recognizes the just and scholarly leadership in creating cohesion and coordination within a community. This form of government, in its ideal form, is not the dominance of individual preferences and personal interests, but also the state religion and justice. Therefore, the regime of velayat is particularly a form of Islamic rule but religious rule may refer to both of these two terms.
The provincial government, the supreme leader (or, according to another theory, the jurists) is a justified and qualified Islamic scholar and leader at the head of the province and is selected according to the theory, from the religious to the moral authority of the government which points to the conditions which we discussed is the system of velayat-e faqih and we will go on to discuss it from now on.