iain+planning


 * Essential Question: ** Democracy is not for China?

//At the moment, what is China's political stance to the main political bodies in the world?// China, political stance, view, USA, Britain, politics, government, point of view, idea//s// U.S.-China relations refers to international relations between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China. Most analysts have characterized present Sino-American relations as complex and multi-faceted, with the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC) being neither allies nor enemies. Generally, the American government and military establishment do not regard the Chinese as an adversary, but as a competitor in some areas and a cooperator in others. At the same time, it is acknowledged that the nature of Sino-American relations will be a major factor in determining the world's destiny in the 21st century.  Relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States have generally been volatile, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union, which removed a common enemy and ushered in a world characterized by American dominance. Some in the United States remain suspicious of the Communist Party of China and believe that its goal is to establish hegemony in East Asia and even worldwide, and threaten U.S. interests[citation needed]. There are also grievances which relate to human rights in the People's Republic of China and the political status of Taiwan. For its part, there are suspicions in the PRC that the United States wishes to make China weak and divided and that criticisms pertaining to its human rights record are unwarranted in light of the economic and living standard improvements that have occurred in the country.[citation needed]  While there are many irritants in Sino-American relations, there are also many stabilizing factors. The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States are major trade partners and have common interests in the prevention and suppression of terrorism and in preventing nuclear proliferation. While the end of the Cold War removed a common enemy, the War on Terror has produced a new common enemy, which has stabilized relations to some degree.  In addition, while there is still a great deal of Chinese mistrust at American intentions, there is also the grudging realization that the United States will likely remain a sole superpower for a great deal of time, and any direct challenge to the United States' position is likely beyond PRC's capability for several decades. There is also a realization that most of PRC's challenges and difficulties are internal, and therefore there is a desire on the part of the PRC to maintain stable relations with the United States. There is some strain due to US support for Tibetan and East Turkestan independence movements, which the PRC views as terrorism   // //What is democracy?// // Democrcy, define, identify, classify In political theory, democracy describes a small number of related forms of government and also a political philosophy. Even though there is no universally accepted definition of 'democracy',[3] there are two principles that any definition of democracy include. The first principle is that all members of the society have equal access to power and the second that all members enjoy universally recognized freedoms and liberties.[4][5][6]  There are several varieties of democracy, some of which provide better representation and more freedoms for their citizens than others.[7][8] However, if any democracy is not carefully legislated to avoid an uneven distribution of political power with balances such as the separation of powers, then a branch of the system of rule is able to accumulate power in a way that is harmful to democracy itself.[9][10][11] The "majority rule" is often described as a characteristic feature of democracy, but without responsible government it is possible for the rights of a minority to be abused by the "tyranny of the majority". An essential process in representative democracies are competitive elections, that are fair both substantively[12] and procedurally[13]. Furthermore, freedom of political expression, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are essential so that citizens are informed and able to vote in their personal interests.[14][15]  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE">Popular sovereignty is common but not a universal motivating philosophy for establishing a democracy. In some countries, democracy is based on the philosophical principle of equal rights. Many people use the term "democracy" as shorthand for liberal democracy, which may include additional elements such as political pluralism, equality before the law, the right to petition elected officials for redress of grievances, due process, civil liberties, human rights, and elements of civil society outside the government. In the United States, separation of powers is often cited as a supporting attribute, but in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the dominant philosophy is parliamentary sovereignty (though in practice judicial independence is generally maintained). In other cases, "democracy" is used to mean direct democracy. Though the term "democracy" is typically used in the context of a political state, the principles are also applicable to private organizations and other groups. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE">Democracy has its origins in Ancient Greece.[16][17] However other cultures have significant contributed to the evolution of democracy such as Ancient Rome[16], Europe[16], and North and South America.[18] Democracy has been called the "last form of government" and has spread considerably across the globe.[19] Suffrage has been expanded in many jurisdictions over time from relatively narrow groups (such as wealthy men of a particular ethnic group), but still remains a controversial issue with regard to disputed territories, areas with significant immigration, and countries that exclude certain demographic groups. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> //What is china's government planning to do in the future?// China, government, plan, sceme, future, <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> //What type of goverment does china have?// ////China, goverment, define,//// <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">he politics of the People's Republic of China take place in a framework of a single-party socialist republic. The leadership of the Communist Party is elected in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. State power within the PRC is exercised through the Communist Party of China, the Central People's Government and their provincial and local counterparts. Under the dual leadership system, each local bureau or office is under the theoretically co-equal authority of the local leader and the leader of the corresponding office, bureau or ministry at the next higher level. The will of Chinese citizens is expressed through the legislative bodies of the People's Congress system. People's Congress members at the county level are elected by voters. These county level People's Congresses have the responsibility of oversight of local government, and elect members to the Provincial (or Municipal in the case of independent municipalities) People's Congress. The Provincial People's Congress in turn elects members to the National People's Congress that meets each year in March in Beijing.[1] The ruling Communist Party committee at each level plays a large role in the selection of appropriate candidates for election to the local congress and to the higher levels //<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> //How long has china's goverment been in power?// //<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> China, goverment, power, length, time, governing party. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">59 years since PRC proclaimed in 1949 <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">//What are the benifits and downfalls of democracy?// Democracy, benifits, downfalls, pros, cons, plus sides, bad sides, <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">With "freedom" as a goal of US policy, what are the real benefits of democracy? In the developing world, no democracy has ever had a famine as Nobel-winner Amartya Sen demonstrated, and citizens of democratic nations have equivalent economies, longer lifespans and better educations than autocracies. Unfortunately, it appears that democracies do go to war with each other (although less, statistically). On the other hand, high levels of political freedom decrease terrorism and prevent genocides. Obviously, democracies also do bad things, but is there a better form of government? <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> //What is China's history concerning its governm//ent? China, government, history, <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">e in Europe, the Middle East, or the Americas. It was following this initial flourishing of civilization, in a period known as the Chou dynasty (1122–249 B.C.), that Lao-tse, Confucius, Mo Ti, and Mencius laid the foundation of Chinese philosophical thought. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The feudal states, often at war with one another, were first united under Emperor Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, during whose reign (246–210 B.C.) work was begun on the Great Wall of China, a monumental bulwark against invasion from the West. Although the Great Wall symbolized China's desire to protect itself from the outside world, under the Han dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 220), the civilization conducted extensive commercial trading with the West. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In the T'ang dynasty (618–907)—often called the golden age of Chinese history—painting, sculpture, and poetry flourished, and woodblock printing, which enabled the mass production of books, made its earliest known appearance. The Mings, last of the native rulers (1368–1644), overthrew the Mongol, or Yuan, dynasty (1271–1368) established by Kublai Khan. The Mings in turn were overthrown in 1644 by invaders from the north, the Manchus. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">China remained largely isolated from the rest of the world's civilizations, closely restricting foreign activities. By the end of the 18th century only Canton (location of modern-day Hong Kong) and the Portuguese port of Macao were open to European merchants. But with the first Anglo-Chinese War in 1839–1842, a long period of instability and concessions to Western colonial powers began. Following the war, several ports were opened up for trading, and Hong Kong was ceded to Britain. Treaties signed after further hostilities (1856–1860) weakened Chinese sovereignty and gave foreigners immunity from Chinese jurisdiction. European powers took advantage of the disastrous Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 to gain further trading concessions from China. Peking's response, the Boxer Rebellion (1900), was suppressed by an international force. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The death of Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi in 1908 and the accession of the infant emperor Hsüan T'ung (Pu-Yi) were followed by a nationwide rebellion led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who overthrew the Manchus and became the first president of the Provisional Chinese Republic in 1911. Dr. Sun resigned in favor of Yuan Shih-k'ai, who suppressed the Republicans in a bid to consolidate his power. Yuan's death in June 1916 was followed by years of civil war between rival militarists and Dr. Sun's Republicans. Nationalist forces, led by General Chiang Kai-shek and with the advice of Communist experts, soon occupied most of China, setting up the Kuomintang regime in 1928. Internal strife continued, however, and Chiang eventually broke with the Communists. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">On Sept. 18, 1931, Japan launched an invasion of Manchuria, capturing the province. Tokyo set up a puppet state dubbed Manchukuo and installed the last Manchu emperor, Henry Pu-Yi (Hsüan T'ung), as its nominal leader. Japanese troops moved to seize China's northern provinces in July 1937 but were resisted by Chiang, who had been able to use the Japanese invasion to unite most of China behind him. Within two years, however, Japan had seized most of the nation's eastern ports and railways. The Kuomintang government retreated first to Hankow and then to Chungking, while the Japanese set up a puppet government at Nanking, headed by Wang Jingwei. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Japan's surrender to the Western Allies in 1945 touched off civil war between the Kuomintang forces under Chiang and Communists led by Mao Zedong, who had been battling since the 1930s for control of China. Despite U.S. aid, the Kuomintang were overcome by the Soviet-supported Communists, and Chiang and his followers were forced to flee the mainland, establishing a government-in-exile on the island of Formosa (Taiwan). The Mao regime proclaimed the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949, with Beijing as the new capital and Zhou Enlai as premier. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">After the Korean War began in June 1950, China led the Communist bloc in supporting North Korea, and on Nov. 26, 1950, the Mao regime sent troops to assist the North in its efforts to capture the South. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In an attempt to restructure China's primarily agrarian economy, Mao undertook the “Great Leap Forward” campaign in 1958, a disastrous program that aimed to combine the establishment of rural communes with a crash program of village industrialization. The Great Leap forced the abandonment of farming activities, leading to widespread famine in which more than 20 million people died of malnutrition. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In 1959, a failed uprising against China's invasion and occupation of Tibet forced Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and 100,000 of his followers to flee to India. The invasion of Tibet and a perceived rivalry for the leadership of the world Communist movement caused a serious souring of relations between China and the USSR, former allies. In 1965 Tibet was formally made an autonomous region of China. China's harsh religious and cultural persecution of Tibetans, which continues to this day, has spawned growing international protest. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The failure of the Great Leap Forward touched off a power struggle within the Chinese Communist Party between Mao and his supporters and a reformist faction including future premier Deng Xiaoping. Mao moved to Shanghai, and from that base he and his supporters waged what they called the Cultural Revolution. Beginning in the spring of 1966, Mao ordered the closing of schools and the formation of ideologically pure Red Guard units, dominated by youths and students. The Red Guards campaigned against “old ideas, old culture, old habits, and old customs.” Millions died as a series of violent purges were carried out. By early 1967, the Cultural Revolution had succeeded in bolstering Mao's position as China's paramount leader. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Anxious to exploit the Sino-Soviet rift, the Nixon administration made a dramatic announcement in July 1971 that National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger had secretly visited Beijing and reached an agreement whereby Nixon would visit China. The movement toward reconciliation, which signaled the end of the U.S. containment policy toward China, provided momentum for China's admission to the UN. Despite U.S. opposition to expelling Taiwan (Nationalist China), the world body overwhelmingly voted to oust Taiwan in favor of Beijing's Communist government. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">President Nixon went to Beijing for a week early in 1972, meeting Mao as well as Zhou. The summit ended with a historic communiqué on Feb. 28, in which both nations promised to work toward improved relations. Full diplomatic relations were barred by China as long as the U.S. continued to recognize the legitimacy of Nationalist China. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Following Zhou's death on Jan. 8, 1976, his successor, Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping, was supplanted within a month by Hua Guofeng, former minister of public security. Hua became permanent premier in April. In Oct. he was named successor to Mao as chairman of the Communist Party. But Mao's death on Sept. 10 unleashed the bitter intraparty rivalries that had been suppressed since the Cultural Revolution. Old opponents of Mao launched a campaign against his widow, Jiang Qing, and three of her “radical” colleagues. The so-called Gang of Four was denounced for having undermined the party, the government, and the economy. They were tried and convicted in 1981. Meanwhile, in 1977, Deng Xiaoping was reinstated as deputy premier, chief of staff of the army, and member of the Central Committee of the Politburo. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Beijing and Washington announced full diplomatic relations on Jan. 1, 1979, and the Carter administration abrogated the Taiwan defense treaty. Deputy Premier Deng sealed the agreement with a visit to the U.S. that coincided with the opening of embassies in both capitals on March 1. On Deng's return from the U.S., Chinese troops invaded and briefly occupied an area along Vietnam's northern border. The action was seen as a response to Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia and ouster of the Khmer Rouge government, which China had supported. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In 1981, Deng protégé Hu Yaobang replaced Hua Guofeng as party chairman. Deng became chairman of the Central Committee's military commission, giving him control over the army. The body's 215 members concluded the session with a statement holding Mao Zedong responsible for the “grave blunder” of the Cultural Revolution. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Under Deng Xiaoping's leadership, meanwhile, China's Communist ideology went through a massive reinterpretation, and sweeping economic changes were set in motion in the early 1980s. The Chinese scrapped the personality cult that idolized Mao Zedong, muted Mao's old call for class struggle and exportation of the Communist revolution, and imported Western technology and management techniques to replace the Marxist tenets that had slowed modernization. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The removal of Hu Yaobang as party chairman in Jan. 1987 signaled a hard-line resurgence within the party. Hu—who had become a hero to many reform-minded Chinese—was replaced by former premier Zhao Ziyang. With the death of Hu in April 1989, the ideological struggle spilled into the streets of the capital, as student demonstrators occupied Beijing's Tiananmen Square in May, calling for democratic reforms. Less than a month later, the demonstrations were crushed in a bloody crackdown as troops and tanks moved into the square and fired on protesters, killing several hundred. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In annual sessions of the rubber-stamp National People's Congress in 1992 and 1993, the government called for accelerating the drive for economic reform, but the sessions were widely seen as an effort to maintain China's moves toward a market economy while retaining political authoritarianism. At the session in 1993, Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin was elected president, while hard-liner Li Peng was reelected to another five-year term as prime minister. Since 1993, the Chinese economy has continued to grow rapidly. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Deng Xiaoping's death in Feb. 1997 left a younger generation in charge of managing the enormous country. In 1998, Prime Minister Zhu Rongji introduced a sweeping program to privatize state-run businesses and further liberalize the nation's economy, a move lauded by Western economists. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">On July 1, 1997, when Britain's lease on the New Territories expired, Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty, and in 1999, the Portuguese colony of Macao also was returned to Chinese rule. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In Aug. 1999, China rounded up thousands of members of the Falun Gong sect, a highly popular religious movement. The government considers the apolitical spiritual group threatening because its numbers exceeded the membership of the Chinese Communist Party. China severely restricts its citizens' civil, religious, and political rights. The use of torture has been widely documented, and for many years it has executed more people than any other country in the world, carrying out more than three-quarters of the world's executions. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">China was admitted to the World Trade Organization in Nov. 2001. Its entry ended a 15-year debate over whether China is entitled to the full trading rights of capitalist countries. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In Nov. 2002, Vice President Hu Jintao became general secretary of the Communist Party at the 16th Party Congress, succeeding President Jiang. Hu Jintao also assumed the presidency in March 2003. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a worldwide health threat, hit China in March 2003. After coming under fire by the World Health Organization for underreporting the number of its SARS cases, China finally revealed the alarming extent of its epidemic. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Beijing officials angered democracy advocates in Hong Kong in April 2004, when they banned popular elections for Hong Kong's chief executive, scheduled for 2007. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Tension between China and Taiwan intensified in March 2005, when China passed an antisecession law that said the country could use force if Taiwan moved toward achieving independence. “The state shall employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the legislation said. Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian called the bill a “law of aggression.” <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In June 2005, the China National Oil Corporation (Cnoc) bid $18.5 billion to take over the U.S. oil company Unocal. The Chinese firm withdrew the bid in August amid strong resistance from U.S. officials. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">After months of pressure from the Bush administration, China announced in July 2005 that it will no longer peg the yuan to the dollar. Instead, the yuan is linked to a fluctuating group of foreign currencies. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The police shot and killed about 20 people who were protesting the construction of a power plant in the southern city of Dongzhou in December. Chinese officials blocked the spread of information about the event. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Government officials announced in December that China's economy had grown by 9% in 2005. China is poised to have the world's fourth-largest economy, after the United States, Japan, and Germany. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In May 2006, China completed construction on the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. More than a million people will be displaced when the area is flooded. In July 2006, China opened a $4.2-billion, 710-mile-long railway from Qinghai Province to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. The highest railway in the world, it ascends as high as 16,500 ft, requiring all compartments to have regulated oxygen levels. The railway will increase ethnic Chinese migration into Tibet, which many see as a deliberate attempt to dilute Tibetan culture. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">China tested its first antisatellite weapon in January 2007, successfully destroying one of its own weather satellites. Analysts deemed the move a provocative challenge to the United States' supremacy in space-based technology. Others speculated that China is seeking to push the U.S. toward signing a treaty to ban space-based weapons. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In the spring and summer of 2007, dog food and toothpaste products that originated in China were recalled due to the presence of poisonous ingredients, leading many to question the safety of Chinese products and the reliability of its regulatory system. In July, China's former head of the State Food and Drug Administration was executed for accepting bribes from pharmaceutical companies in exchange for favors. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">What other types of government are there? <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Government types define <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Explanation of Non-Imperial Government Types Anarchy (chaos)  No organized government at all. Some SI:<1 feral/pirate/barbarian regions in the outer volumes have with this type (or lack) of government. This sort of arrangement always is replaced by another more organised but still short-lived form of government - e.g. Dictatorship, or more often through conquest by a neighbouring state, government, or military power. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Anarchy (self-rule) Rule by individual responsibility, creativity, and input. A sort of meta-socialism/meta-democracy. This type of government requires advanced emotional and spiritual development, usually a society of superiors. Such government types can be very long-lived. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Aristocracy Rule by a hereditary elite. A sort of minor monarchy. Many of the great Houses during the later Federation to Empires age were Aristocracies, and such government remains in isolated fiefdoms scattered throughout the galaxy even today. Almost always there will be a House AI behind the scenes, as a sort of tutelary, oracular or even manipulative power (depending on the personality of the AI). Provided they are not subverted by higher toposophic AIs, aristocracies area very stable and long-lived government type, if tending towards oppressive caste structures. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Charismacracy Rule by animal magnetism, sometimes reinforced with erotic presence and/or empath abilities. Note that this is very different to Meritocracy, which is more intellectual. Many of the old Genetekker biospheres, and many Erotogini and Communion worlds, are of this sort. Often only lasts as long as the single charismatic ruler or clade-clone succession. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Company-Owned World A planet, moon or asteroid controlled by a company or corporation and run for profit. This system was quite common during the early to middle first Federation period, and can still be found throughout many sparsely settled libertarian capitalist (either NoCoZo or independent) dominated regions in the outer volumes where there is little government or policing regulation. This type of government is very rarely long-lived. Almost always, with increasing colonization, the world or planetoid will declare independence and seize the company's assets. Alternatively, the world or planetoid and its resources will be claimed by a passing ISO or transapient power. See also Syndicracy. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Confederacy A number of smaller areas banded together under one loose government. During the Interplanetary Age there were a number of orbital alliances and belter polities of this sort. Today a number of polities in the hinteregions and outer volumes, are good examples of confederations. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Democracy / Republic A government run by elected representatives. Many of the Industrial Age, Information Age, early Interplanetary Age, and First Federation era governments were of this sort. The rule by hyperturings make true democracies no longer competitive in the modern galaxy. Nevertheless there are a great many successful and long-lived democratic systems under hyperturing guidance. Democracies are more common in some nearbaseline polities away from the big capitals and power centers. In the middle regions, the Puppis Democracy and New Daffy Panoparchy are examples of empires that favor this option. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Dictatorship Absolute rule by one leader. This is a common, sometimes brutal, more rarely benevolent, and always short lived phenomenon among middle tech and luddite lower level high tech polities and societies where higher level transapient influence is weak. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Femtotheocracy Government by religious leadership or priesthood, usually in the service of a high level transapient or minor archailect. The actual form the government takes can be astonishingly diverse. One of the most common government types in the galaxy today. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Meritocracy Rule by merit or natural abilities - not in the same sense as charismacracy. e.g. most of the great scientific Institutes are Meritocracies. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Monarchy Rule by a king or a queen, usually of one family or dynasty or aristocratic clan or House that manages to acquire an empire. Monarchy and Feudalism was a common and very stable system of government in medieval and iron age Old Earth, and later attained a brief revival through the aristocracies of some of the larger post-megacorp hereditary Houses. There are however an abundance of petty egomaniacs and eccentrics who have set up their own hereditary principalities, kingdoms etc, on minor biospheres throughout the galaxy. Most of these are harmless, even benign; a few are oppressive. Few of these regimes last more than a century or two, although very isolated monarchies have been known to be quite enduring. More successful is when a ruling AI empowers a biont sovereign, who thus becomes, in the archaic phrase, the representative of God on Earth. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Nanarchy Nanarchies are societies controlled by nanotechnological systems not of the same kind as the normal inhabitants. Usually the result of deliberate planning to ensure security or an accident. The nanosystems enforce certain policies, preventing attempts to overthrow them or change their programming outside the allowed channels. Reasonably common. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Panocracy Rulership by the Collective or Totality. Can be benevolent as in Metasoft, where individuals retain autonomy of will, or more devouring, as in some hegemonizing swarms, where existence is only for the sake of the Collective <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Plutocracy A government run by those with the most wealth - a popular government in the early Interplanetary Age Earth, the later First Federation period, and remains popular in some of the more backward worlds of the Non Coercive Zone. But unless the ruling class has the backing of the local hyperturings they are easily undermined <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Socialist State A popular but often impractical system in which the state owns and controls most activities for the equal good of all people. Many Utopia Sphere worlds are of this sort. Without the leadership of benign AI, this sort of regime frequently deteriorates into totalitarianism is overthrown by a different system <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Stochocracy Form of government very popular in medium-tech clades and polities that are of a decidedly libertine bent. In a stochocracy, the number of government positions is kept to an absolute bare minimum needed to ensure that all the necessary functions of government are fulfilled without anyone being overworked <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">more more <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Stratocracy Rule by a nation's military leaders, or the military leaders of a clan or clade. In the aftermath of the Version Wars a number of military commanders, isolated from the main government in relativistic fleets, set up this kind of government in many of the worlds of the outer volumes. Generally these regimes are short-lived. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Syndicracy Rule by an organization of the most powerful corporations on the planet. This was very common during the First Federation era. Syndicracies are fragile, depending on the alliances between the megacorps in question. Few last longer than a century. See also Company World. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Theocracy Government by religious leadership or priesthood. A common phenomenon among medieval/iron age states, less common in the industrial age, almost non-existent in the Information Age (the internet savvy Islamic cultures on mid/late 21st century Earth being a rare exception) Theocracy began to flourish again among the mushrooming of utopian and eccentric factions in the Interplanetary Age. The Interstellar era saw some local theocratic biosphere-states. The Stella Umma was the only Theocratic Empire to really make it big during post-Federation time. Theocracies are very common today, but almost all the successful ones are Femtocracies. Non-AI theocracies are common and quite long-lived but, like monarchies, only survive as isolated polities
 * Reasearch questions:**