An oligarchy is that form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the hands of a few (oligos, few); example, the triumvirates of Rome.

An aristocracy is really a government by the best (aristos, the select, the best).  This is the sense in which the word was first used.  It has come to mean government by a privileged class.  Aristocracy seldom, if ever, exists alone.

A democracy is that form of government in which the functions are administered directly by the people, only the clerical or ministerial work being done by officers, and they appointed by the people; examples, the old German tribes, some of the states of ancient Greece, some of the present cantons of Switzerland, the early settlements of New England, and in a limited sense our own school districts and towns.

A republic is a representative democracy.  A democracy is practicable only within a very limited area.  When the area grows large the people must delegate much of work of government to representatives.  Examples, the United States, each state in the Union, Switzerland, and most of the countries of America.

The Origin of Each Typical Form.—­Monarchy and oligarchy both probably owe their existence to war.  The successful chieftain or leader in war became the king, and his retainers or followers became the privileged classes.  Those who were subdued either became slaves or were simply “the common people.”  Democracy had its beginnings, and flourishes best, in times of peace.  The people, though they had to fight again and again to secure recognition, have really won their right to it by the arts of peace.

The Criteria of Good Government.—­Among the tests by which the goodness or badness of a government, or form of government, may be determined, are the following: 

1.  A good government is stable.  Stability is the foundation of worthiness of character in governments as well as in persons.  The basis of progress is permanence—­one cannot grow wise, or rich, or strong, unless he can preserve at least a part of what he gains.  “Conduciveness to progress includes the whole excellence of government.” [Footnote:  Mills Representative Government.]

2.  A good government tends to increase the sum of good qualities in the governed.  Strength comes from exercise.  Therefore a government is excellent in proportion as it works up to the possibilities of a people for self-government and fits them to go on advancing in intellectual and moral power.

3.  A good government has proper machinery.  This should be “adapted to take advantage of the amount of good qualities which may at any time exist, and make them instrumental to right purposes.” [Footnote:  Mills Representative Government.]