See Also: Government(medicine)
government(dictionary)
big government(dictionary)
government(encyclopedia)
government(dictionary)
CITY, government(law)
C0@MMISSION, government(law)
AUTHORITY, government(law)
ADMINISTRATION, government(law)
COMMONWEALTH, government(law)

government (sh)




Political system by which a body of people is administered and regulated.

Different levels of government typically have different responsibilities. The level closest to those governed is local government. Regional governments comprise a grouping of individual communities. National governments nominally control all the territory within internationally recognized borders and have responsibilities not shared by their subnational counterparts. Most governments exercise executive, legislative (see legislature), and judicial (see judiciary) powers and split or combine them in various ways. Some also control the religious affairs of their people; others avoid any involvement with religion. Political forms at the national level determine the powers exercised at the subnational levels; these have included autocracy, democracy, fascism, monarchy, oligarchy, plutocracy (government by the wealthy), theocracy, and totalitarianism.