Citizen Participation
in Government
Standard: SSCG4a/b
Essential Question: Why are there various forms of government?
Warm-Up: BrainSplash
•
Using the template from Ms. Evans, answer the following
question:
What happens when someone has too much power?
“It’s the Bees Knees” Play
Discussion Questions: Face Partner
• How did Mean Bee rule his colony?
 How easy or difficult was the decision-making in this
government system?
Discussion Questions: Shoulder
Partner
• What was it like for the bees living under Mean Bee’s
control?
• Was this a good government to live under? Why or why not?
Graphic Organizer: Autocracy
Autocracy (Autocratic)
Diagram
Look to the side
Long Definition
Central Government:
All participation in the
government is from
the ruler, who is in
charge of the central
(national) government
Power
Rule of ONE
Examples
Advantages
Disadvantages
Citizens: Very little to no participation for the
citizens, who are under the control of the central
government
Graphic Organizer: Autocracy
Definition: Government in which one person
possesses unlimited power. The citizen has little,
if any, rights.
Forms of Autocratic Government:
Examples
Absolute or Totalitarian Dictatorship
• Ideas of a single leader glorified.
• Government tries to control all aspects of social and
economic life.
• Government is not responsible to the people.
• People lack the power to limit their rulers.
• Examples- Fidel Castro, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin
Forms of Autocratic Government:
Examples
Absolute Monarchy
• King, queen, or emperor exercises the supreme
powers of government/unlimited power.
• Position is usually inherited.
• People lack the power to limit their rulers.
• Absolute monarchs are rare today but from the
1400s to the 1700s they ruled most of Western
Europe.
• Examples- Montezuma II, Queen Elizabeth I