List of forms of government
120-578: List of forms of government Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching principles, especially those of Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum novarum (1891) and Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo anno (1931). It has influenced Anglo Christian Democratic movements, and has been recognized as one of many influences on
240-834: A culture of life while supporting alternatives such as distributism to both unrestrained capitalism and state socialism. Freemasons were seen mainly as enemies and vehement opponents of political Catholicism. In Mexico, the atheist President Plutarco Elías Calles repressed the Church and Catholics, leading to the Cristero War that lasted from 1926 to 1929. By the 20th century, the Church's writings on democracy were "directly read, read and commented upon" by Christian politicians, inspiring Christian democratic parties and movements in Europe and South America. A visit by Jacques Maritain in Chile provoked
360-562: A dictatorship or it may be a group, as in a one-party state . The word despotism means to "rule in the fashion of despots" and is often used to describe autocracy. Historical examples of autocracy include the Roman Empire , North Korea , the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan , Eritrea and Nazi Germany . Regardless of the form of government, the actual governance may be influenced by sectors with political power which are not part of
480-406: A "dictatorship of relativism", which would lack universal moral values. Benedict XVI warned that "without a consciousness of the moral law, democracy cannot be sustained and degenerates into the dictatorship of relativism or what Tocqueville famously called the “ tyranny of the majority .” As a program and a movement, political Catholicism – a political and cultural conception which promotes
600-534: A Danzig report from 1871 claimed that the Polish and German Catholic population "persists in its cool, suspicious attitude; even now hopes for the success of French arms are audible from these circles". The Kulturkampf did unite German Catholics and Poles as both were harshly affected by the anti-Catholic policies, and Catholics of Germany were supportive of the Polish national movement. As to counteract this, German settlers to Polish territories were exclusively Protestant, as
720-739: A democracy cannot be individualist, as a free civil society is one that provides "a widespread opportunity for participation in the goods only available to persons through cooperation". John Paul II also stressed the need for subsidiarity and the need for local self-government that would preserve regional cultures, and remarked that a "high degree of moral achievement" and adherence to Catholic virtues as well as "courage, moderation, justice, and prudence" are needed for democracy to succeed. Pope Benedict XVI defined democracy as protector of human dignity, and stressed that abandoning "moral reasoning" in favor of purely technical reasoning promoted by total understanding of "modern science and technology" can lead to
840-486: A democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism. In the 1960s, the Second Vatican Council and Pope Paul VI endorsed the notion that the Church must fight not only for democracy itself but also for human rights, and it was concluded that participation in public affairs, to the degree that the country's level of development allowed, was a human right; the council also confirmed
960-437: A form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. A common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of state is not a monarch. Montesquieu included both democracies , where all the people have a share in rule, and aristocracies or oligarchies , where only some of
1080-476: A formidable alternative to socialist unions. Pope Leo XIII 's 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum (Of New Things) gave political Catholic movements an impulse to develop and to spread the area of their involvement. With this encyclical, the Catholic Church expanded its interest in social, economic, political and cultural issues, and it called for a drastic conversion of Western society in the 19th century in
1200-400: A forum for contact between the middle class and the working class", especially in the context of opposing authoritarian regimes. In dealing with hostile regimes, the Church has sometimes signed concordats , formal treaties which limit persecution of Catholic practices in return for concessions to the state. The Concordat of 1801 , signed with Napoleon , reduced the persecution endured under
1320-497: A group of artists and craftsmen who established a community in Ditchling , Sussex, England, in 1920, with the motto "Men rich in virtue studying beautifulness living in peace in their houses". The guild sought to recreate an idealised medieval lifestyle in the manner of the Arts and Crafts Movement . It survived for almost 70 years until 1989. The Big Society was the flagship policy idea of
SECTION 10
#17328480917531440-541: A historical state of human society, especially before the concentration of power afforded by agriculture. It has been presented as a viable long-term choice by individuals known as anarchists who oppose the state and other forms of coercive hierarchies. These systems are often highly organized, and include institutional or cultural systems to prevent the concentration of power. Anarchism typically advocates for social organization in non-hierarchical, voluntary associations where people voluntarily help each other . There are
1560-572: A minimum of land, wealth and status. Some critics of capitalism and/or representative democracy think of the United States and the United Kingdom as oligarchies . These categories are not exclusive. Autocracies are ruled by a single entity with absolute power, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regular mechanisms of popular control (except perhaps for implicit threat). That entity may be an individual, as in
1680-431: A minimum of wealth and status. Social democracy rejects the "either/or" phobiocratic/polarization interpretation of capitalism versus socialism. Social democracy argues that all citizens should be legally entitled to certain social rights. These are made up of universal access to public services such as: education, health care, workers' compensation, public transportation, and other services including child care and care for
1800-573: A number of small, wealthy, trade-based city-states embraced republican ideals, notably across Italy and the Baltic. In general, these mercantile republics arose in regions of Europe where feudal control by an absolutist monarchy was minimal or absent completely. In these mercantile republics, the leaders were elected by the citizenry with the primary duty of increasing the city-state's collective wealth. Many political systems can be described as socioeconomic ideologies. Experience with those movements in power and
1920-429: A single, vastly powerful corporation deposes a weak government, over time or in a coup d'état . Some political scientists have also considered state socialist nations to be forms of corporate republics, with the state assuming full control of all economic and political life and establishing a monopoly on everything within national boundaries – effectively making the state itself amount to a giant corporation. Probably
2040-461: A small part of the economy, with small business owners hiring employees, usually young, inexperienced people. Distributism requires either direct or indirect distribution of the means of production (productive assets)—in some ideological circles including the redistribution of wealth —to a wide portion of society instead of concentrating it in the hands of a minority of wealthy elites (as seen in its criticism of certain varieties of capitalism ) or
2160-444: A social order useful to Christians as well, and to the extent that the freedom of the Church to carry out its evangelical task was allowed." In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas discussed the concept of political legitimacy and the moral issues of using political power, concluding that explicit limitations to governmental power are necessary. Later Thomists such as Saint Cajetan , Francisco Suárez and Robert Bellarmine introduced
2280-416: A society marked by widespread property ownership. Cooperative economist Race Mathews argues that such a system is key to creating a just social order . Distributism has often been described in opposition to both laissez-faire capitalism and state socialism which distributists see as equally flawed and exploitative. Furthermore, some distributists argue that state capitalism and state socialism are
2400-677: A split within the Conservative Party in 1938, with a progressive Catholic faction abandoning the party to found the National Falange . According to Paul E. Sigmund, Catholic social and political thought "became a major source of democratic theory" in Latin America as well as Europe. Some of the earliest important political parties were: Most of these parties in Europe joined in the White International (1922), in opposition to
2520-673: A standalone entity or as a hybrid system of the main three. Scholars generally refer to a dictatorship as either a form of authoritarianism or totalitarianism. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato discusses in the Republic five types of regimes: aristocracy , timocracy , oligarchy , democracy, and tyranny . The question raised by Plato in the Republic : What kind of state is best? Generational changes informed by new political and cultural beliefs, technological progress, values and morality over millenniums have resulted in considerable shifts in
SECTION 20
#17328480917532640-560: A unified German state, and overwhelmingly rejected National Socialism. According to Jürgen W. Falter, 83% of recruits to the NSDAP were Protestant, while the Nazi Party failed to make any inroads among Catholics. Richard Steigmann-Gall observed that electorally, Catholic areas "saw near total opposition to the Nazis" and concluded that "Nazi party's share of a region's vote was inversely proportional to
2760-566: A variety of forms of anarchy that attempt to discourage the use of coercion, violence, force and authority, while still producing a productive and desirable society. More generally, random selection of decision makers from a larger group is known as sortition (from the Latin base for lottery). The Athenian democracy made much use of sortition, with nearly all government offices filled by lottery (of full citizens) rather than by election. Candidates were almost always male, Greek, educated citizens holding
2880-403: Is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do". The Democratic Labour Party of Australia espouses distributism and does not hold the view of favouring the elimination of social security who, for instance, wish to "[r]aise the level of student income support payments to
3000-401: Is appointed by the president or elected by the parliament and handles daily administration. The term semi-presidential distinguishes this system from presidential and parliamentary systems. A directorial republic is a government system with power divided among a college of several people who jointly exercise the powers of a head of state and/or a head of government. In the early Renaissance,
3120-497: Is beneficial for a person and his family and is, in fact, a right due to God having "given the earth for the use and enjoyment of the whole human race". G. K. Chesterton presents similar views in his 1910 book, What's Wrong with the World . Chesterton believes that whilst God has limitless capabilities, man has limited abilities in terms of creation. Therefore, man is entitled to own property and treat it as he sees fit, stating: "Property
3240-464: Is considered to be the preferred alternative to private banks . G. K. Chesterton considered one's home and family the centrepiece of society. He recognized the family unit and home as centrepieces of living and believed that every man should have his property and home to enable him to raise and support his family. Distributists recognize that strengthening and protecting the family requires that society be nurturing. Distributism puts great emphasis on
3360-487: Is defined more broadly. For example, a 2010 International Alert publication defined anocracies as "countries that are neither autocratic nor democratic, most of which are making the risky transition between autocracy and democracy". Alert noted that the number of anocracies had increased substantially since the end of the Cold War. Anocracy is not surprisingly the least resilient political system to short-term shocks: it creates
3480-475: Is merely the art of the democracy. It means that every man should have something that he can shape in his own image, as he is shaped in the image of heaven. But because he is not God, but only a graven image of God, his self-expression must deal with limits; properly with limits that are strict and even small." According to Belloc, the distributive state (the state which has implemented distributism) contains "an agglomeration of families of varying wealth, but by far
3600-521: Is portrayed primarily in science fiction settings. Examples from popular culture include Gaia in Appleseed Political Catholicism The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics . The Catholic Church's views and teachings have evolved over its history and have at times been significant political influences within nations. Historically,
3720-678: The American Solidarity Party generally adheres to Distributist principles as its economic model. Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam view their Grand New Party , a roadmap for revising the Republican Party in the United States , as "a book written in the distributist tradition". The Brazilian political party, Humanist Party of Solidarity , was a distributist party, alongside the National Distributist Party in England, and
Distributism - Misplaced Pages Continue
3840-468: The American Solidarity Party have advocated distributism alongside social market economy in their economic policies and party platform. According to distributists, the right to property is a fundamental right, and the means of production should be spread as widely as possible rather than being centralised under the control of the state ( statocracy ), a few individuals ( plutocracy ), or corporations ( corporatocracy ). Therefore, distributism advocates
3960-455: The Basque Country in a region of Spain and France, was founded by a Catholic priest, Father José María Arizmendiarrieta , who seems to have been influenced by the same Catholic social and economic teachings that inspired Belloc, Chesterton, Father Vincent McNabb , and the other founders of distributism. Distributist ideas were put into practice by The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic ,
4080-497: The Communist International . Franco 's mixture of Catholicism and nationalism received its own brand of National Catholicism and it inspired similar movements throughout Europe. In addition to political parties, Catholic/Christian trade unions were created, which fought for worker's rights : the earliest include: After World War II, more such unions were formed, including: In the 20th century, and especially after
4200-673: The Congress of Industrial Organizations . The Catholic Church encouraged Catholic workers to join the CIO "to improve their economic status and to act as a moderating force in the new labor movement". Catholic clergy promoted and founded moderate trade unions, such as the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists and the Archdiocesan Labor Institute in 1939. American Catholics of that era were generally New Deal liberals who actively supported
4320-612: The Democratic Labour Party in Australia. In the first round of the 2024 Romanian presidential election , candidate Călin Georgescu , a far-right independent candidate who advocates for a system based on distributism and sovereigntism received 23% of votes and qualified for the second round. Distributism is known to have influenced the economist E. F. Schumacher , a convert to Catholicism. The Mondragon Corporation , based in
4440-721: The French Communist Party to offer "an outstretched hand" to French Catholics in 1936, wishing "to achieve a tactical alliance to head off fascism in France and Europe and to promote social progress". A large number of French Catholics did enter a dialogue with the party, but to Thorez's surprise, "these Catholics were not, for the most part, the Catholic workers, clerks, artisans, peasants to whom Maurice Thorez had addressed his appeal, but rather Catholic philosophers, "social priests," journalists, and cardinals". While Catholics were wary of
4560-649: The French Revolution in return for Church cooperation with Napoleon's rule. The Lateran Treaty of 1929 settled long-running disputes with Italy by recognising the independence of the Vatican City . The 1933 Reichskonkordat with the emergent Nazi Germany required clergy non-involvement in politics while allowing public practice of the Catholic faith. Similar purposes were served by the 2018 Holy See-China agreement which allowed Chinese government recommendation of bishops' appointments while permitting some practice of
4680-570: The Prussian Settlement Commission . The Kulturkampf laws had a double purpose: they were directed against German Catholics, who were considered opponents of a unified German state and harboured pro-French sympathies, and against Poles, against whom the German state was conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign. Bismarck accused the Catholic Church of harbouring "Polish tendencies" and of actively "polonizing" German Catholics; Bismarck also saw
4800-456: The Second Vatican Council , the church came to be associated with moderately social-democratic and economically left-wing causes - after the encyclicals Rerum Novarum of 1891 and Quadragesimo Anno of 1931, the church firmly established its Christian Democrat outlook which supported "pluralistic democracy, human rights, and a mixed economy". Paul E. Sigmund describes the church's philosophy at that time as one that promoted "free institutions,
4920-525: The USCCB produces "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" (formerly "Faithful Citizenship") guides, to provide guidelines and explanations of Catholic teaching to Catholic voters. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops , "the separation of church and state does not require division between belief and public action, between moral principles and political choices, but protects
Distributism - Misplaced Pages Continue
5040-612: The Unification of Italy , put in motion by anti-clerical nationalism and resulting in the abolition of the Papal States . Italian Catholics were divorced from Italian nationalism as well as the government itself because of its anti-clericalism. In late 19th century, Social Catholicism based on Catholic social teaching became a prevalent force amongst Italian Catholics, who started to organize themselves into labor federations and labour unions, promoting Catholic socialism as an alternative to
5160-438: The military , and the police force , would be privatised . The social welfare function carried out by the state is instead carried out by corporations in the form of benefits to employees. Although corporate republics do not exist officially in the modern world, they are often used in works of fiction or political commentary as a warning of the perceived dangers of unbridled capitalism . In such works, they usually arise when
5280-537: The social market economy . Distributism views laissez-faire capitalism and state socialism as equally flawed and exploitative, due to their extreme concentration of ownership. Instead, it favours small independent craftsmen and producers; or, if that is not possible, economic mechanisms such as cooperatives and member-owned mutual organisations , as well as small to medium enterprises and vigorous anti-trust laws to restrain or eliminate overweening economic power. Christian democratic political parties such as
5400-566: The welfare state , and political democracy". According to G. Michael McCarthy, anti-Catholicism in the United States had xenophobic and racial, but also political, overtones - Southern Protestants "strongly opposed the church's liberal policies - particularly its uncompromising position against social and political segregation." According to John Hellman, "Not long before he died, Lenin told a French Catholic visitor that "only Communism and Catholicism offered two diverse, complete and inconfusible conceptions of human life". This led Maurice Thorez of
5520-406: The "recipients of divine grace and inspiration", along with the clergy. Paul E. Sigmund argues that democratic thinking was already present in the early Church, as early Catholics "acted as communities to make decisions about common affairs, becoming almost independent self-governing entities in periods of persecution". The High Middle Ages was the heyday of monarchism . In the Church, this meant
5640-522: The $ 1.2 million raised in 2021 by the anti-abortion "Value Them Both Coalition," $ 500,000 was given by the Archdiocese of Kansas City and $ 250,000 was donated by the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, far higher amounts than other individual donations. This restriction does not apply to individuals or group provided they do not represent themselves as acting in an official Church capacity. Every four years,
5760-849: The 2010 UK Conservative Party general election manifesto . Some distributists claim that the rhetorical marketing of this policy was influenced by aphorisms of the distributist ideology and promotes distributism. It purportedly formed a part of the legislative programme of the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement . List of forms of government This article lists forms of government and political systems , which are not mutually exclusive , and often have much overlap. According to Yale professor Juan José Linz there are three main types of political systems today: democracies , totalitarian regimes and, sitting between these two, authoritarian regimes with hybrid regimes . Another modern classification system includes monarchies as
5880-475: The CIO, viewed government as a positive force for social reform and often participated in non-communist trade unions, becoming a prominent group of the United Auto Workers . According to Colleen Doody, Catholics were the "backbone and the bane of New Deal liberalism". Catholics are instructed to participate in the political process, be informed voters, and to encourage elected officials to act on behalf of
6000-457: The Catholic percentage of its population". Defunct From Germany, political Catholic social movements spread in Austria-Hungary , especially in today's Austria, Ukraine , Slovenia and Croatia . Catholic Action was the name of many groups of lay Catholics attempting to encourage Catholic influence on political society. Many Catholic movements were born in 19th-century Austria, such as
6120-504: The Church as a major obstacle to his Germanisation policies against Poles in Germany. Both the Catholic clergy and German Catholics were accused of aiding the Polish national movement, with Bismarck contending that Catholics in Germany "were actively supporting Polish candidates to the Reichstag". West Prussian officials would describe a "suspiciously agitated mood" amongst German Catholics, and
SECTION 50
#17328480917536240-467: The Church followed the policy of strict neutrality, with Catholic thinkers such as Eusebius of Caesarea believing that the Church should not concern itself with political matters. However, Saint Augustine , one of the Doctors of the Church , influenced the Church with his theory of minimal involvement in politics, according to which the Church "accepted the legitimacy of even pagan governments that maintained
6360-467: The Church's commitment to a communitarian and Christian type of democracy was officially established by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclicals Au Milieu des Sollicitudes and Graves de communi re . There, Pope Leo XIII endorsed democracy as the most Catholic type of governance, but warned that a Catholic democracy must "benefit the lower classes of society", work for the common good and reject individualism in favor of communitarianism , thus reaffirming
6480-408: The Church's duty to promote democracy as a system that best ensured the protection of the common good. According to the teachings of Pope John Paul II , any political regime must be measured by its ability to protect human dignity, which is "rooted in man’s living in both freedom and truth". Pope John Paul II describes democracy as having three dimensions: However, John Paul II also highlighted that
6600-451: The Church's rejection of "individualistic liberal" capitalism. These declarations laid the foundation of Catholic social teaching , which rejected both capitalism and communism. In terms of political development, Catholic social teaching endorsed democracy on the condition that it constitutes a protection of human dignity and the moral law, and valued common good over individualism. Prior to World War II, numerous Catholic thinkers advanced
6720-411: The Church's resistance to French, German and Italian regimes is seen as an example of the Church's opposition to democracy, Bradley Lewis argues that these regimes were not democratic at all, and Carolyn M. Warner states that the Church "adapted to democratic context" and supported democracy as long as it respected clerical interests. Despite its struggle against democratic and liberal anti-clericalism,
6840-781: The Communist offer as a religious and moral rather than political issue". Similar alliance took place in Italy. According to a historian Elisa Carrillo, the Vatican was sceptical of "condemning any variety of communism", and Italian Catholics cooperated with Communists in the anti-fascist resistance. After WWII, members of the Italian Catholic Action "saw no essential incompatibility between Marxism and Catholicism" and established close ties with Communists such as Mario Alicata and Pietro Ingrao . Catholic Communists in Italy also had contacts with
6960-593: The Henderson poverty line". The American Solidarity Party has a platform of favouring an adequate social security system, stating: "We advocate for social safety nets that adequately provide for the material needs of the most vulnerable in society". The position of distributists, when compared to other political philosophies, is somewhat paradoxical and complicated (see triangulation ). Firmly entrenched in an organic but very English Catholicism , advocating culturally traditional and agrarian values, directly challenging
7080-568: The Kulturkampf was a "war of annihilation waged by the Prussian state against the Catholic Church as a spiritual-religious and political power". According to Hajo Holborn , German liberals were ready to give up their liberal principles and support Kulturkampf out of anti-Catholic sentiment. Holborn notes that the measures against the Catholic Church "constituted shocking violations of liberal principles" and that "German liberalism showed no loyalty to
7200-647: The North German parliament vetoed this request and pointed to it as an act of Catholic disloyalty". Under the Kulturkampf policy, Otto von Bismarck "associated the meaning of being German with Protestantism". Germany was proclaimed as a "distinctively Protestant empire". Catholic minorities such as Poles and the French were persecuted, and "German Catholics were imagined as Germany's internal foreigners and increasingly marginalized from German society and politics as enemies of
7320-645: The Progressive Catholic movement promoted by thinkers such as Wilfried Daim and Ernst Karl Winter . Once strongly opposed by the Church because of its anti-clerical tendencies, liberalism started to be reapproached by Catholics, giving birth to a Catholic liberal movement in Austria. As Austria was an overwhelmingly agrarian country until the 1930s, the Catholic social movement was mostly represented by agrarian leagues as well as rural trade unions. Catholic leaders had their roots in farming and artisan environments, and
SECTION 60
#17328480917537440-628: The Prussian authorities believed that "the true German is a Protestant". In reaction to the Kulturkampf legislation, Catholic distrust of the German state grew and German Catholics retreated into confessionally separate milieus - social organisations, devotional associations, the Catholic press and the political Catholicism of the Centre Party. These institutions became main vehicles of Catholic difference by promoting common Catholic values and worldviews. This led German Catholics to isolate themselves from German nationalism - German Catholics were opposed to
7560-484: The United States in the 1930s, distributism was treated in numerous essays by Chesterton, Belloc and others in The American Review , published and edited by Seward Collins . Pivotal among Belloc's and Chesterton's other works regarding distributism are The Servile State and Outline of Sanity . In Rerum novarum , Leo XIII states that people are likely to work harder and with greater commitment if they possess
7680-559: The basic attitude which correspond to democratic forms of political life. Those who are convinced that they know the truth and firmly adhere to it are considered unreliable from a democratic point of view, since they do not accept that truth is determined by the majority, or that it is subject to variation according to different political trends. It must be observed in this regard that if there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political activity, then ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power. As history demonstrates,
7800-417: The basis of a correct conception of the human person. It requires that the necessary conditions be present for the advancement both of the individual through education and formation in true ideals, and of the “subjectivity” of society through the creation of structures of participation and shared responsibility. Nowadays there is a tendency to claim that agnosticism and skeptical relativism are the philosophy and
7920-447: The behest of the sultan and generally only required a tax from the lower classes, instead of military service and/or manual labour like in the feudal system. Governments can also be categorized based on their size and scope of influence: Certain major characteristics are defining of certain types; others are historically associated with certain types of government. This list focuses on differing approaches that political systems take to
8040-453: The belief about the origination of political authority, who may participate in matters of state, how people might participate, the determination of what is just, and so forth. Index of Forms of Government. Systems resembling anarchism can be a natural, temporary result of civil war in a country, when an established state has been destroyed and the region is in a transitional period without definitive leadership. It has also been proposed as
8160-614: The chance to change things. An oligarchy does not have to be hereditary or monarchic. An oligarchy does not have one clear ruler but several rulers. ( Ancient Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía) literally meant rule by few") Some historical examples of oligarchy include the Roman Republic , in which only males of the nobility could run for office and only wealthy males could vote, and the Athenian democracy , which used sortition to elect candidates, almost always male, Greek, educated citizens holding
8280-688: The church, codified in Franco's 1953 Vatican Concordat, assured that the meeting would not be interrupted by the police". Likewise, the church often founded and engaged in human rights groups in the 20th century - Committee of Cooperation for Peace in Chile was an anti-Pinochet group that was crucial in rescuing the victims of the regime, with its membership mostly including priests, nuns and middle-class Catholics. Similar Catholic groups were also organised in Brazil and Bolivia under authoritarian regimes there, where they endured police harassment. According to Józef Figa,
8400-527: The clergy, such as with the priest Giuseppe De Luca . The church made "no attempt to suppress or condemn the efforts of these young people to reconcile Catholicism with Marxism", and in 1943, Cardinal Luigi Maglione intervened on behalf of 400 Communist Catholics who were arrested for anti-government demonstrations. Following the council, the Catholic Church became linked to democratization movements in both developed and developing countries, opposing authoritarianism and advocating for human rights. However, this
8520-513: The common good. There are, however, limits to official Church political activity. The Church engages in issue-related activity, but avoids partisan political candidate activities since it might make them vulnerable to losing their tax-exempt status. An example of an issue-related activity the Catholic Church is legally able to support is the August, 2022 proposed amendment for an abortion ban in Kansas city. Of
8640-490: The dictatorship forced the regime to start "fining priests for their sermons, jailing members of the clergy, and considering the expulsion of a bishop, thereby risking the excommunication of the government". Nicola Rooney argues that although Spanish clergy was accused of collaborating with Francoist forces during the Spanish Civil War , "the regime had managed to exile a significant number of its opponents, thereby giving
8760-407: The distribution of sovereignty , and the autonomy of regions within the state. These have no conclusive historical or current examples outside of speculation and scholarly debate. While retaining some semblance of republican government, a corporate republic would be run primarily like a business , involving a board of directors and executives . Utilities , including hospitals , schools ,
8880-477: The economic ideas of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and his mutualist economic theory. The lesser-known anarchist branch of distributism of Day and the Catholic Worker Movement can be considered a form of free-market libertarian socialism due to their opposition to state capitalism and state socialism. Some have seen it more as an aspiration, successfully realised in the short term by the commitment to
9000-428: The elderly. Social democracy is connected with the trade union labour movement and supports collective bargaining rights for workers. Contemporary social democracy advocates freedom from discrimination based on differences of: ability/disability, age, ethnicity, sex, language, religion, and social class. Oligarchies are societies controlled and organised by a small class of privileged people, with no intervention from
9120-410: The exploitation of the poor and abuse of the Church by the ruling class; in that sense, the conservative Catholic view of democracy was one that supported democracy as an "institutionalization of the people’s right of resistance against tyranny." The concept of Catholic democracy was further established by Pope Pius XII in his 1944 Christmas Message, in which he stressed that a "true democracy" must see
9240-832: The face of capitalist influences. Following the release of the document, the labour movement which had previously floundered began to flourish in Europe, and later in North America. Mary Harris Jones ("Mother Jones") and the National Catholic Welfare Council were central in the campaign to end child labour in the United States during the early 20th century. In the 20th century, Catholic political movements became very strong in Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Ireland, France and Latin America. What these movements had in common
9360-650: The faith. During the 1930s in America, Father Coughlin , initially a left-wing radical supporter of FDR's New Deal , Catholic priest and radio firebrand, expounded an anti-communist, social justice platform influenced by the Catholic faith. Coughlin later excoriated the Democratic Party, taking on an increasingly illiberal and anti-Semitic stance. The Catholic Church denounced Couglin's rhetoric for its anti-Semitism and hostility towards trade unions. The Archbishop of Detroit , Edward Aloysius Mooney , demanded Coughlin to cease his attacks on industrial unions such as
9480-407: The formal government. These are terms that highlight certain actions of the governors, such as corruption , demagoguery , or fear mongering that may disrupt the intended way of working of the government if they are widespread enough. The Polity IV dataset recognizes anocracy as a category. In that dataset, anocracies are exactly in the middle between autocracies and democracies. Often the word
9600-410: The greater number of owners of the means of production". This broader distribution does not extend to all property but only to productive property; that is, that property which produces wealth, namely, the things needed for man to survive. It includes land, tools, and so on. Distributism allows society to have public goods such as parks and transit systems. Distributists accept that wage labour will remain
9720-530: The hands of the state (as seen in its criticism of certain varieties of communism and socialism ). More capitalist-oriented supporters support distributism-influenced social capitalism (also known as a social market economy) , while more socialist-oriented supporters support distributism-influenced libertarian socialism . Examples of methods of distributism include direct productive property redistribution, taxation of excessive property ownership, and small-business subsidization. Distributists advocate in favour of
9840-461: The idea of a Catholic political regime; Jacques Maritain argued that democracy was a "fruit of the Gospel itself and its unfolding in history", writing that political Catholicism in its essence promotes democracy based on "justice, charity, and the realization of a fraternal community". More conservative Catholic thinkers such as Yves Simon also fully endorsed democracy, but saw it as a way to prevent
9960-404: The idea of early Christian democracy , according to which political power was granted by God to each community, and every political official was to obey the community's determination in his political decisions; according to this concept, the community could transfer the authority from one official to another as well. In the early Church, the biblical passage Matthew 22 :21 (" Render to Ceasar ,
10080-413: The ideals of Christian corporatism , comparing the organisation of society to the structure of the human body, with each social class having its role in the society and democratic right to participate in politics. The Church's tradition taught that government and laws originally emerged from the people, and were justified with their consent ( consensus ). Catholic thinkers believed that government authority
10200-614: The ideas and social teaching of the Catholic Church in public life through government action – was started by Prussian Catholics in the second half of the 19th century. German Catholics opposed the German Unification, as they wished to preserve the independence of German nations as well as the old German Confederation , which guaranteed Catholics religious freedom. When Catholic activists requested North German parliament to enact similar protections, "Protestant liberals in
10320-527: The ideas of lawful procedure or of political and cultural freedom which had formerly been its lifeblood". Gordon A. Craig points out that German liberals were not coerced by the Prussian state into supporting the Kulturkampf legislation in any way, but willingly backed it despite the fact that it betrayed their principles and included provisions that enabled ethnic cleansing in Poland . Polish Catholics were forcibly removed from their houses, which were then given to
10440-425: The illusion of unanimous support from the Church." In Francoist Spain, the "members of clergy were to play a leading role in the opposition to the dictatorship". This was particularly true for the Catholic clergy in "Basque Country and Catalonia, where the clergy were actively involved in regional nationalism, and also for those priests from Catholic worker organisations who took up the defence of striking workers". As
10560-569: The involvement of the Church in oppositionist groups was often very important for mobilising and uniting the opposition to authoritarian regimes. In Catalonia, opposition to the Franco regime "brought together members of the church and several illegal parties, including the Communists", while in Poland, Catholic opposition to the Communist regime was crucial in bridging a gap between intelligentsia oppositionist and worker and peasant organisations. Syzmon Chodak wrote: "The role of Catholic Clubs in unifying
10680-484: The land on which they labour, which in turn will benefit them and their families as workers will be able to provide for themselves and their household. He puts forward the idea that when men have the opportunity to possess property and work on it, they will "learn to love the very soil which yields in response to the labor of their hands, not only food to eat, but an abundance of the good things for themselves and those that are dear to them". He also states that owning property
10800-405: The law should be formulated by "the whole community or the person who represents it" and describing a regime in which "all participate in the election of those who rule" as the best form of governance, formulating the concept of universal suffrage . He also recognised limits to papal authority, writing that the pope can only intervene in affairs "in which the temporal power is subject to him". In
10920-540: The logical conclusion of capitalism as capitalism's concentrated powers eventually capture the state. Thomas Storck argues: "Both socialism and capitalism are products of the European Enlightenment and are thus modernising and anti-traditional forces. In contrast, distributism seeks to subordinate economic activity to human life as a whole, to our spiritual life, our intellectual life, our family life." A few distributists, including Dorothy Day , were influenced by
11040-412: The mere concept of anarchism. Chesterton thought that distributism would benefit from the discipline that theoretical analysis imposes and that distributism is best seen as a widely encompassing concept inside of which any number of interpretations and perspectives can fit. This concept should fit a political system broadly characterized by widespread ownership of productive property. In the United States,
11160-532: The modern era, which saw the rise of electoral democracy and secularism, the Church strongly rejected and clashed with regimes of anti-clerical and anti-Catholic nature. This included Revolutionary France , where the Church was the target of harsh persecution; hundreds of Catholic priests were murdered in the September Massacres , and the Reign of Terror that followed partly targeted the Church as well. Although
11280-403: The monarch, who mostly rule kingdoms. The actual role of the monarch and other members of royalty varies from purely symbolical ( crowned republic ) to partial and restricted ( constitutional monarchy ) to completely despotic ( absolute monarchy ). Traditionally and in most cases, the post of the monarch is inherited , but there are also elective monarchies where the monarch is elected. Rule by
11400-688: The most infamous secret society is the Illuminati , who had in their general statutes, "The order of the day is to put an end to the machinations of the purveyors of injustice, to control them without dominating them." Secret societies are illegal in several countries, including Italy and Poland , who ban secret political parties and political organizations in their constitutions. Secret societies are often portrayed in fiction settings. Some examples from popular culture include: Magocracies are portrayed primarily in fiction and fantasy settings. Some examples from popular culture include: Synthetic technocracy
11520-437: The most part of society; this small elite is defined as sharing some common trait. De jure democratic governments with a de facto oligarchy are ruled by a small group of segregated, powerful or influential people who usually share similar interests or family relations. These people may spread power and elect candidates equally or not equally. An oligarchy is different from a true democracy because very few people are given
11640-511: The nationalist, anti-clerical socialism. These political developments led to the creation of Italian People's Party as well as the Confederazione Italiana dei Lavoratori , a Catholic socialist confederation of trade unions. Catholic trade union membership was particularly high among rural workers, small landowners and sharecroppers, as well as peasants. The Catholic ideal appealed to marginalised and impoverished groups, and proved itself
11760-421: The new Reich". German authorities considered German Catholics foreign and saw them as a threat to creation of a homogenous German identity. Kulturkampf aimed to eliminate Catholicism from the cultural and public sphere completely — Catholic seminaries and schools were closed, church property was confiscated, and thousands of Catholic clergy were arrested or exiled. According to a German historian Herbert Lepper ,
11880-614: The opposition forces in Poland was spectacular. These legally independent Catholic organizations provided shop-windows for ideas and ideals of non-Catholics, left-wing socialists, humanists, and others as well as the church." Left-wing Catholic organisations that were common in Latin America and Europe, such as the Movement of Priests for the Third World , French worker-priests or Christians for Socialism not only provided aid to and organised working-class and urban poor Catholis, but also "provided
12000-481: The opposition from the Catholic Church intensified, the Franco regime soon started acting against the clergy, and a prison for Catholic priests called Concordat Prison was created. Hank Johnston and Jozef Figa also argue that in Spain, "the church was crucial in the nationalist and working-class wings of the anti-Francoist movement"; with help of the local clergy, Catholic churches served as shelters for illegal trade unions and anti-Francoist parties, as "the sanctity of
12120-401: The people as a "body of citizens" rather than "simply a mass", as the former will make the citizens aware of their fellow rights and duties, while the latter is "an undifferentiated multitude open to manipulation by demagogues". He also affirmed the need for an "authentic democracy" to follow communitarian and Catholic values: Authentic democracy is possible only in a State ruled by law, and on
12240-414: The people rule, as republican forms of government. These categories are not exclusive. A semi-presidential republic is a government system with power divided between a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government, used in countries like France , Portugal , and Ukraine . The president, elected by the people, symbolizes national unity and foreign policy while the prime minister
12360-436: The popularity of political Catholicism across Europe . According to historian Michael A. Riff, a common feature of these movements was opposition to secularism , capitalism, and socialism. In 1891 Pope Leo XIII promulgated Rerum novarum , in which he addressed the "misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class" and spoke of how "a small number of very rich men" had been able to "lay upon
12480-649: The precepts of Whig history —Belloc was nonetheless an MP for the Liberal Party, and Chesterton once stated, "As much as I ever did, more than I ever did, I believe in Liberalism. But there was a rosy time of innocence when I believed in Liberals". Distributism does not favour one political order over another (political accidentalism). While some distributists such as Dorothy Day have been anarchists , it should be remembered that most Chestertonian distributists are opposed to
12600-420: The principle of subsidiarity. This principle holds that no larger unit (whether social, economic, or political) should perform a function that a smaller unit can perform. In Quadragesimo anno , Pope Pius XI provided the classical statement of the principle: "Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it
12720-567: The principles of subsidiarity and solidarity (built into financially independent local cooperatives and small family businesses ). However, proponents also cite such periods as the Middle Ages as examples of the long-term historical viability of distributism. Particularly influential in the development of distributist theory were Catholic authors G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc , two of distributism's earliest and strongest proponents. The mid-to-late 19th century witnessed an increase in
12840-438: The promise but not yet the actuality of an inclusive and effective political economy, and threatens members of the established elite; and is therefore very vulnerable to disruption and armed violence. Countries with monarchy attributes are those where a family or group of families (rarely another type of group), called the royalty , represents national identity, with power traditionally assigned to one of its individuals, called
12960-481: The regime and urged for a return to democracy, and in 1975 the clergy started actively partaking in anti-government demonstrations. The church also opposed the Franco Regime . While the church in Spain was devastated after the Spanish Civil War and signed a concordat with the regime to ensure that it would avoid further persecution, it soon emerged as an opponent of the regime in the 1950s. The growing opposition to
13080-490: The return of a guild system to help regulate industries to promote moral standards of professional conduct and economic equality among members of a guild. Such moral standards of professional conduct would typically focus on business conduct, working conditions and other issues in relation to industry specific matters such as workplace training standards. Distributism favours cooperative and mutual banking institutions such as credit unions, building societies and mutual banks. This
13200-519: The rise of papal authority under popes such as Gregory VIII and Innocent III , who exerted wide influence over the Christian states of Europe and claimed supremacy over all of Europe's kings, engaging in major political battles such as the Investiture Controversy . However, medieval Catholic thinkers also pioneered ideas of democracy: John of Salisbury spoke of a conceptual democracy based on
13320-444: The second half of the nineteenth century led to the development of Catholic Integrism and Carlism struggling against a separation of Church and State. The clearest expression of this struggle arose around the 1884 publication of the book Liberalism is a Sin by Roman Catholic priest Félix Sardà y Salvany . The book was rapidly referred to Rome, where it received a positive, albeit cautious welcome. Defunct The Church opposed
13440-490: The social thought promoted by political Catholicism was communitarian and distributist , reflecting "the social model of the village". Anton Burghardt observes that Social Catholicism in Austria "was never friendly to capitalism; on the contrary, there was always a strong aversion to industrial capitalism in the Catholic camp". This allowed left-wing Catholic organisations to enter dialogue with socialist and social-democrat activists. Defunct Political changes in Spain during
13560-434: The socialist concept of the revolution, and strongly opposed to the atheism of most socialist movements, "strong criticism of capitalism and economic liberalism was a persistent theme in episcopal pronouncements and Catholic literature". The attempt of a Communist-Catholic unity in France is considered successful, as most French Catholics were opposed to fascism and when offered an alliance on grounds of anti-fascist unity, "saw
13680-460: The strong ties they may have to particular forms of government can cause them to be considered as forms of government in themselves. These categories are not exclusive. A similar system is the Iqta‘ , used by medieval Islamic societies of the middle east and north Africa. This functioned much like the feudal system but generally had titles that weren't granted to a family dynasty but to individuals at
13800-418: The teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself". Affirmed in the encyclical was the right of all men to own property, the necessity of a system that allowed "as many as possible of the people to become owners", the duty of employers to provide safe working conditions and sufficient wages, and the right of workers to unionise . Common and government property ownership
13920-469: The things that are Ceasar's, and to God, the things that are God's") was a source of discussion regarding the role of the Church and its relations with secular governments, defining the dualism of Catholic political thinking - unlike earlier religions, the Catholic Church became a separate, independent institution that was not a part of any ethnic or political structures of already existing communities. The Church's doctrine considered Christian communities to be
14040-429: Was a defense of the acquired rights of the Catholic Church (attacked by anticlerical politicians) and a defense of Christian faith and moral values (threatened by increasing secularization ). Opponents called such efforts clericalism . These Catholic movements developed various forms of Christian democratic ideology, generally promoting socially and morally conservative ideas such as traditional family values and
14160-542: Was expressly dismissed as a means of helping the poor. Around the start of the 20th century, G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc drew together the disparate experiences of the various cooperatives and friendly societies in Northern England, Ireland, and Northern Europe into a coherent political theory which specifically advocated widespread private ownership of housing and control of industry through owner-operated small businesses and worker-controlled cooperatives. In
14280-469: Was not universal, and the extent of church involvement in politics varied greatly between countries. The church started actively opposing authoritarian regimes; in Chile, the church was opposed to the Pinochet Regime and helped rescue "thousands of foreigners and leftist activists that were fleeing the country or taking refuge in foreign embassies". The 1974 Bishops Conference in Chile harshly criticized
14400-490: Was to be limited by natural and customary laws, as well as independent institutions such as the Church. Even papal authority should be balanced by the secular nobility (episcopalism) and the Church hierarchy (election of the Pope by the conclave , and the conciliar movement ). According to Walter Ullmann , medieval Catholic scholars came close to envisioning and endorsing democracy in its modern form, with Saint Thomas writing that
#752247