Philosophy of Society

Political Philosophy (Theory of the State)

Types of States

Each country cultivates its own distinctive structural features. States are conventionally classified according to two criteria: government form and state structure.

• Government form refers to the order of interaction among the highest authorities, that is, the rules governing the cooperation of the head of state, parliament, government, and local governing bodies. Based on the forms of government, states are divided into two types: ◦ Monarchy — a form of government in which supreme state power is concentrated in one individual and is either inherited or elected by a narrow circle of authorized individuals. Monarchies can be further categorized as: - Absolute monarchy — a form of governance where the monarch's power is unrestricted and hereditary; - Constitutional monarchy — a form of governance in which the monarch's power is limited by law; - Theocratic monarchy — a form of governance where the monarch is a high-ranking clergy member, deriving authority from religion. ◦ Republic — a form of government in which the authorities are elected by the people for a specified term. Republics are categorized according to which governmental bodies hold the greatest powers: - Presidential republic — a governance structure where the president holds the greatest authority. This form exists in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Belarus, Afghanistan, Chile, and others. - Presidential-parliamentary republic — a governance structure in which executive powers are shared between the president and parliament, yet the president’s authority is greater. Examples include Venezuela, Greece, Kazakhstan, among others; - Parliamentary-presidential republic — a governance structure where powers are shared between the president and parliament, but parliament holds greater authority than the president. Such republics include Egypt, Romania, Montenegro, and others; - Parliamentary republic — a form of governance where parliament holds the most significant powers. This form is present in Austria, Germany, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, and several other nations.
• State structure refers to the order of territorial division within a country and the forms of cooperation between central authority and local governance. There are two forms of state structure: ◦ Unitary state — a country where the authority of central governing bodies is uniformly applied across all administrative-territorial units, with none enjoying special privileges. Examples of unitary states include Ukraine, France, Poland, Italy, the United Kingdom, and most other countries in the world; ◦ Federative state — a country composed of autonomous parts, each possessing its own rights and the ability to make decisions in certain areas independently of the central authority. Federations typically arise from historical circumstances, through the unification of once-independent nations. Federative states include the United States, Germany, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, and others. The central government's competencies in a federative republic encompass the military, monetary policy, foreign relations, judicial system, and more. - Confederation — a variant of a federative republic in which the rights of the confederation's subjects are extensive. Confederations present themselves not as a single nation but as a union of independent states. Switzerland serves as an example of a confederation, and the European Union is sometimes considered a confederation as well.