What is a regime? Learn the definition and significance of a regime. Also, see the types and characteristics of regimes along with some real-world examples.
Updated: 11/21/2023
Regime | Definition, Types & Examples
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does regime mean?
A regime means a set of rules, whether formal or informal, determining a country's politics (for example, a rule saying that if one wants to rule a democracy, they must win free and fair elections).
What are the different types of regimes?
There are different ways to classify regimes. Depending on how much freedom a regime allows, there are democratic, autocratic, and totalitarian regimes. Depending on whether a regime's head of state is an inherited or an elected position, there are monarchies and republics.
What is the difference between regime and government?
A regime is a set of rules determining politics in a country. These rules are usually quite stable. A government is a group of people ruling a country. Governments change significantly more often than regimes.
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ShowIn political science, a regime is usually defined as a set of rules and norms determining how politics works in a country. These rules might be formal, like a constitutional provision in France that affirms the president is elected for five years, or informal, like a tradition in the United Kingdom that maintains that the monarch cannot veto bills even though technically she is allowed to do so. The rules defining a regime specify the workings of its political institutions (the government, legislature, courts, etc.). This definition of a regime is neutral, but in everyday language, the term has negative connotations. It is usually used to characterize autocratic or repressive systems (like a Fascist regime). Contrastingly, the phrase "Germany's democratic regime" sounds unusual. A term with a similar meaning to "regime" is "political system."
Regime vs. Government
In contrast to the regime, which is a more general term, "government" refers to a group of people who control a country. Government has a broader and narrower meaning. In the broader meaning, it refers to a country's central political institutions, which are usually divided into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. In the narrower sense, it encompasses only the people holding top executive positions (presidents, prime ministers, ministers/secretaries, monarchs, etc.).
One of the differences between regime and government is that governments, especially in democratic countries, change significantly more often than regimes. For example, a change of government occurred in France in May 2017 when Francois Hollande left the presidency and Emmanuel Macron assumed office. In a similar way, China had a change of government in March 2013 when Hu Jintao left the presidency and Xi Jinping took it over. Yet, France's democratic regime and China's autocratic regime did not change.
A regime change implies not only a change of government but also a change of fundamental rules governing the country. Burma experienced a regime change in February 2021 when the military overthrew its democratically elected government in a coup. Fundamental rules of the regime changed because before the coup, free elections decided who would rule the country. After the coup, the military decided who would rule. Similarly, China experienced a regime change in 1949 when Communists won a civil war over their Nationalist opponents. One should add that under some circumstances, especially in personalist autocratic regimes (in which a single ruler concentrates power and civil institutions are weak), the regime is hardly distinguishable from the government. This is the case, for example, in North Korea.
In the United States, the term "government" is also often used to describe what other varieties of English call "the state," that is, the entirety of public institutions at all administrative levels (which include the military, police, and agencies such as the Social Security Administration and National Park Service).
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Just like with people, regimes may be categorized into several overlapping dimensions. In the case of a person, one can describe them, for example, in terms of height and age. So, elderly people might be either tall or short and the same can be said about young people. There are at least four ways to describe a person alongside these two dimensions. Obviously, adding dimensions multiplies the number of possible ways.
In the same way, there are several dimensions in which regimes can be classified. First, in terms of how much freedom a regime allows, one can identify the following types of regimes: Democratic, autocratic, and totalitarian.
In a democratic regime, government institutions originate from free and fair elections while civil liberties (speech, religion, association, press, assembly, and due process rights) and political rights are respected. The key characteristics of politics are the people's ability to peacefully change the government using the electoral process. Some examples of democratic regimes include contemporary France, Germany, the United States, Ghana, Japan, and India.
In an autocratic regime, rulers do not originate from free and fair elections but reach power via other means (election rigging, coup, revolutions, hereditary succession, or appointment by the ruling oligarchy). Various forms of repression (dismissal from work, imprisonment, exile, assassination) are used against political opponents. Civil liberties are restricted to prevent opponents from reaching power. Yet, the government does not force people to participate politically through simulated shows of support, and people not interested in politics are left alone. There are some spheres of social activity that are independent of the government, like churches and professional associations. Some examples of autocratic regimes include contemporary Russia, Singapore, China, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Rwanda.
One can further divide autocratic regimes by asking whether they permit legal political opposition. Some of them, like Russia, allow opposition parties to operate and participate in elections. However, due to election rigging and other forms of manipulation, they cannot win in practice. Such regimes are called competitive authoritarian regimes. Other regimes, like China, do not allow any legal opposition parties and are one-party states. Alternatively, a regime might not allow any political parties whatsoever, like Saudi Arabia, which is an absolute monarchy.
Finally, a totalitarian regime shares most features of autocracies but are even more repressive and controlling. Repression is applied not only against political enemies but also, in order to create fear in the society, entirely innocent people. Even slight political disobedience, like telling a political joke, may be severely punished. A totalitarian regime does not permit any independent social activity by controlling non-government associations and businesses (which are politicized) and even most aspects of private life. The population is forced to participate in shows of (fake) political support like obligatory marches and meetings. A totalitarian regime is guided by a clearly specified ideology (Communism, Fascism, Islamism) and led by a charismatic leader (Hitler, Stalin, Mao) who enforces a cult of personality.
Another dimension used to classify regimes looks at how their head of state comes to power. In this regard, one can identify monarchies and republics. In a monarchy, the head of state is an unelected monarch (emperor, king, queen, prince, duke, sultan, etc.) who assumes the throne based on inheritance within a ruling dynasty. In a republic, the head of state is usually an elected president. In presidential systems, the elected president is also the head of government, but in parliamentary systems, an indirectly elected prime minister performs this function.
Some monarchies, like Britain and Japan, are democracies. In these cases, the monarch only performs ceremonial and representative functions and the real power belongs to the prime minister, who is appointed by a democratically elected legislature (parliament). Other monarchies, like Saudi Arabia and Eswatini, are autocracies. In such monarchies, the monarch is the head of government and the most powerful official in the country. In the same way, republics might function under democratic (e.g. Italy), autocratic (e.g. China), or totalitarian (e.g. North Korea) regimes.
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Types of Politicians
The different types of politicians and how they work depend on the regime type. In a democratic country, to achieve power, one usually first needs to associate oneself with a political party and reach a leading position within it. Subsequently, one needs to win free and fair elections by convincing the people to vote for them. A democrat means someone who believes that democracy is the best way to organize power in one's country. Politicians operating in democratic countries are nearly always democrats although autocratic countries also feature democratic politicians. In that case, they fight for their countries to become democracies and are often repressed for their activities. Some democratic politicians include Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and President Joe Biden of the United States.
A monarch is a ruler of a monarchy. In a monarchy, rules of succession determine how one achieves the throne. Usually, the oldest child of the previously ruling monarch assumes the throne after the latter's death or abdication. Sometimes, as in Saudi Arabia, only male heirs can inherit the throne, and women are excluded. There are also cases, like in Oman, where the dynasty decides together who will inherit the throne among many eligible members. The goal is to ensure that someone competent will become the next ruler. As mentioned, some monarchs do not have real power and are only ceremonial heads of states (like Emperor Hirohito of Japan and King Harald V of Norway), while others are the most powerful people and rulers of their countries (like King Abdullah II of Jordan and Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman). Absolute monarchs have few constraints on power.
Many autocratic countries are ruled by dictators. A dictator is a ruler that enjoys nearly unlimited power and makes decisions single-handedly. In a dictatorship, there is a limited rule of law because any law can be overridden or sidestepped by the dictator's decision. Many dictators come to power through coups or revolutions, but others win democratic elections and subsequently establish a dictatorship. Some examples of dictators include President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un of North Korea, President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh.
Yet, some autocratic countries, such as Vietnam, are ruled collectively by a wider group (e.g. a party leadership or military council). This wider group appoints the leader and is consulted on all major decisions. In such an oligarchical autocracy, politicians are appointed for a top office only after a long career in a ruling party or the military. Such politicians include President Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Vietnam, President Hu Jintao of China, and President John Magufuli of Tanzania.
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About half of the world's regimes are democracies. In the Americas, nearly all countries qualify as democracies except for Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Similarly, nearly all countries in Europe are democratic with the clear exceptions of Russia and Belarus. About half of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are democratic, including Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, and South Africa. Asia and the Middle East do not have many democracies, but one can point to India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, South Korea, and Indonesia as examples.
Autocracies predominate in the Middle East and Asia. Examples of autocratic countries allowing political opposition are Russia, Venezuela, Algeria, Morocco, and Tanzania. Examples of autocratic countries that do not allow political opposition are Vietnam, China, Cuba, and Myanmar since the 2021 military coup.
There are few totalitarian regimes nowadays. Contemporary North Korea is an example of a totalitarian regime, and some scholars also classify Eritrea as totalitarian. In the past, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (2014-17), the Soviet Union (1917-56), Germany (1933-45), and China (1949-78) were clearly totalitarian.
Moving to another regime dimension, in today's world, there are 44 monarchies and 149 republics. All countries listed above serve as examples of either democratic states, autocracies, or republics. Examples of democratic constitutional monarchies, in which the monarch serves only as a ceremonial head of state, include Britain, Norway, Lesotho, and Japan. Examples of monarchies in which the monarch is the head of government and the most powerful figure in the country include Morocco, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Eswatini. Most of such monarchies are located in the Middle East.
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A regime is a set of rules defining how politics work in a country. There are various ways to classify political regimes. Depending on how much freedom a regime allows, one can identify democratic (e.g. the UK and India), autocratic (e.g. Saudi Arabia and Jordan), and totalitarian (e.g. North Korea) regimes. Autocratic and totalitarian regimes use various organizations to govern the country, which could be a political party (as in China, where the Communist Party is the most powerful) or a military. Depending on how the head of state is selected, one can identify monarchical and republican regimes. In a monarchy, the head of state is a monarch, a position inherited within a ruling dynasty. Saudi Arabia is an example of an autocratic (absolute) monarchy while the UK is an example of a democratic constitutional monarchy, in which freely elected parliament has the ultimate power. In a republic, an elected president is usually the head of state.
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Video Transcript
Types of Government and Regimes
Since the first groups of nomadic humans formed, some sort of government structure has been in place to provide them with guidance and mediation of disputes. In the centuries and millennia since those first groups, the roles of government have evolved greatly in many respects, not the least of which is how power is passed down between generations and how many people have access to power.
Often, you'll hear political scientists describe a country as either a monarchy, where a single person has control of the state, often passed down through generations, or a republic, where power is, at least in theory, shared amongst a larger group. Those terms are used to describe the government in question. However, the regime, or ruling powers behind a government, can take on a number of different varieties. In this lesson, we'll look at what different regimes look like in republics and monarchies.
Autocratic
When we think of the most basic types of regime, we tend to think first of autocratic governments. Autocratic regimes are ruled by one person or a small group of people, and very little input from outside of that central group is admitted. Think of a child's idea of what it would be like to be king or queen, ordering people to do arbitrary tasks without anyone to challenge their authority, and you've got a handle on what an autocratic regime looks like. Note that these types of government always must have some element of the population that supports them, lest there be riots and revolts. These supporters are rewarded heavily for their loyalty, but such rewards rarely bring any actual measure of input.
Shockingly, autocratic regimes are still in use around the world - most obviously, in places like North Korea and Saudi Arabia, where a single family controls everything with the support of a few other individuals. In fact, they demonstrate that both countries that consider themselves monarchies and republics can be autocratic. Also, note that in each of these cases, it is a single family that runs the government. Again, observers often call the Kim family that rules North Korea the Kim Dynasty, implying that they are really quite close to being a monarch. However, for propaganda reasons, North Korea insists that it is a republic.
Limited Suffrage
North Korea and Saudi Arabia are certainly extreme examples, and that's because many countries stop short of being completely autocratic. Instead, countries that don't allow full democratic institutions allow some sort of limited suffrage, where a selected group of people can have influence over a range of issues. Think about it like a teacher giving a pre-selected helper from the class a choice between cleaning up toys after playtime or helping to feed the classroom pet. The choices are defined and limited, as are the participants.
The classic example of limited suffrage in a republic is China. Here, the Communist Party has incredible power, indeed to the point that no other political group has any real power in the country. Extensive background checks are done on potential party members in order to make sure that only those individuals who share the goals of the party are admitted. However, once you're in, you get a shocking amount of influence. In fact, this has been a big driver in the change from China being a closed country with little external trade to one of the most powerful economies in the world.
Monarchies can also have limited suffrage. Jordan provides a great example of this. The king holds supreme power in the country, with outside influences being heavily policed. However, members of Parliament are allowed to have considerable dissent from the king's position on issues. The Prime Minister serves as an advisor to the king and communicates concerns to the king, thus providing influence on a narrow range of issues from a select group of people.
Truly Democratic
Fully democratic regimes have grown faster than any other type of regime in the last 100 years. Starting with the American and British experiences, these governments allow every citizen to vote on a wide range of issues. As a result, these types of government are among the most popular with people, while the establishment of a firm political ruling family is next to impossible. Still, sometimes a family does gain so much popularity so as to ensure votes for the next generation. The most famous examples of this are the American Kennedys and the Indian Gandhis. To continue our analogy of children, imagine kids at recess determining what to do with their free time. They are completely in charge of the decision and everyone can vote.
Both monarchies and republics can be fully democratic. The United States provides the most obvious example of a fully democratic republic. While American suffrage for all citizens has been hard-won and is even being defined today, there is no doubt that the overwhelming number of Americans regard this principle as central to their culture. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, despite being a monarchy, demonstrates the wide-ranging democratic powers available even under a queen. The government refers to itself as ruling in the name of the queen, and monarchs in the past have affirmed that Parliament, as the representative of the people, has ultimate power in the UK.
Lesson Summary
In this lesson, we look at the differences in political regimes that have developed over the past centuries, especially focusing on how varying degrees of suffrage are available to both monarchies and republics. We see how autocracies, ruled firmly by one person, are still in place in Saudi Arabia and North Korea. Then we focus on places with limited suffrage, which Communist Party members in China and Parliament members in Jordan enjoy only after extensive vetting. Still, they are only able to comment on a definite range of issues.
Finally, we focus on fully democratic regimes where everyone gets a voice, namely like those found in the United States and the United Kingdom. In particular, we see how the monarch of the United Kingdom has ceded great deals of power to the people via Parliament.
Learning Outcomes
Use all of your knowledge to perform the following actions:
- Compare a monarchy, a republic and a regime
- Give specific national examples of different types of regimes such as autocracies and democratic
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Regime | Definition, Types & Examples
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