Who Rules Whom? A government is the group or person who controls a country. A government makes decisions for the country. There are different forms of government. The way that a government controls and makes decisions is based on the form of government the country has. Let us look at two of these forms of government: a democracy and an absolute monarchy.

Democracy

Canada and the United States are both democracies. This means that the people elect their government. Even citizens over a certain age have the right to vote. Citizens can run for office, too. In a democracy, people have freedom of speech. So they can criticize the government if they do not like what it does.

Although both governments are democracies, they are not exactly the same. One difference is that in Canada, the queen or king of the United Kingdom is the head of state, and the prime minister is the head of the government. The head of state is the highest ranked position in the country. In the United States, the president is the head of state as well as the head of the government.

Another difference is how the head of the government is elected. In Canada, the prime minister is the leader of the political party that gets the most votes in an election. In the United States, the president is elected separately from other people in the government.

Monarchy

In an absolute monarchy, a king or queen is the head of the government. He or she holds all the power. Many countries such as France, Spain, and Russia were absolute monarchies. Today, there are very few absolute monarchies. Two are Saudi Arabia and Swaziland in Africa.

Most monarchies today are consitutional monarchies. These governments still have queens and kings, but the kings or queens do not have any real political power. They are heads of state but not heads of government. Some countries that are constitutional monarchies are Japan, Sweden, and Canada. So you can see that Canada is both a democracy and a constitutional monarchy.

Reflection Questions

1.What does a government do? Use details from the text to support your answer.

2.What is the Main Idea of what you just read?

3.Complete the following graphic organizer to compare the government of Canada and the United States.

Canada (different) Same United States (different)

4. This passage is an example of which Text Structure? How do you know? Explain your answer.

5. How is the passage organized for you to understand what is being read?