Great IdeasLiving together

Kinds of government

Kings, the few and the many: the forms a government can take.

The question

What is the best kind of government: rule by one, by a few, or by the many? And what is government for?

The stops on a time line 9 stops, from 430 BC to 1861. Each number is a stop below, placed at its year.
  1. 1 Herodotus 430 BC
  2. 2 Plato 375 BC
  3. 3 Aristotle 335 BC
  4. 4 Thomas Hobbes 1651
  5. 5 John Locke 1689
  6. 6 Montesquieu 1748
  7. 7 Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay 1788
  8. 8 Alexis de Tocqueville 1835
  9. 9 John Stuart Mill 1861

How the books answer

Oldest first. Each stop is our own short summary of what the author argued; follow the link to the rung for the whole lesson.

  1. c. 430 BC

    Herodotus, The History (the Persian Wars)

    Herodotus tells of three Persian nobles debating how to rule their empire. One praises rule by the people, one by the best few, and one by a single king, and the king's side wins. It is one of the earliest arguments in writing comparing kinds of government.

    Go to the rung: Herodotus: The Histories

  2. c. 375 BC

    Plato, The Republic, Books VI–X

    Plato argues that a city will be well ruled only when those who love wisdom rule, the famous philosopher-kings. He ranks other kinds of government from best to worst and describes how each can slide into the next. He was deeply wary of democracy, which he saw as easily swayed by flatterers.

    Go to the rung: Plato: The Republic, Books VI–X

  3. c. 340–322 BC

    Aristotle, Politics and The Athenian Constitution

    Aristotle studies many real constitutions. He sorts governments by who rules, one, few or many, and whether they rule for the common good or for themselves. The best practical form, he thinks, is a mixed one with a strong middle class.

    “Hence it is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal.”

    Aristotle, Politics I.2, 1253a. Translated by Benjamin Jowett (The Works of Aristotle, vol. X, Clarendon Press, 1921). Internet Archive.

    Go to the rung: Aristotle: Politics

  4. 1651

    Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

    Hobbes says government exists to keep the peace and save people from a war of all against all. Any form can do this if its power is complete, but he thought a single monarch was most likely to be steady. For him, the alternative to strong government is chaos.

    Go to the rung: Hobbes: Leviathan

  5. 1689

    John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration and the Second Treatise of Civil Government

    Locke answers that government is set up by the consent of the people to protect their rights. Its power is held in trust. If a government breaks that trust and tries to rule without law, he argues, the people may set up a new one.

    Go to the rung: Locke: Civil Government and Toleration

  6. 1748

    Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws

    Montesquieu sorts governments into republics, monarchies and despotisms, each with its own spirit. A republic depends on its citizens' virtue, a monarchy on honor and a despotism on fear. He admired England for dividing power among different bodies.

    Go to the rung: Montesquieu: The Spirit of Laws

  7. 1787–1788

    Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, The Federalist

    The authors of The Federalist argue for the new U.S. Constitution. Madison says a large republic, where many groups check each other and the people choose representatives, can guard against any one faction taking over. Hamilton argues for a strong, energetic president and independent courts.

    Go to the rung: The Federalist

  8. 1835–1840

    Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

    Tocqueville studies American democracy at first hand. He praises its town meetings, local self-government and many associations. He also warns of a 'tyranny of the majority' and of people becoming so private that they leave public life to a distant government.

    Go to the rung: Tocqueville: Democracy in America

  9. 1861–1863

    John Stuart Mill, Considerations on Representative Government

    Mill argues that the best government is representative, with the people choosing those who make laws. It is best, he says, because it protects people's interests and also makes citizens more active and thoughtful. He also defended giving votes to women, which was unusual in his time.

    Go to the rung: Mill: Utilitarianism and Representative Government

For young readers

A government is the group of people who make and carry out rules for a town or country. It can be one king or queen, a small group, or many people who vote.

Think of your class picking a game for recess. The teacher could decide, a few kids could decide, or everyone could vote. Each way has good and bad sides. The great books have argued about these choices for over two thousand years.

Talk about it

  • What is government for? Make a list together.
  • If your family were a country, what kind of government would it be?
  • Plato wanted the wisest people to rule. Aristotle liked a mix. Which do you think works better, and why?
  • Why might a big group of people make better choices than one person? Why might it make worse ones?
  • What did Tocqueville admire about American towns?

Where else on the site

Every rung tagged with this idea:

These pages are our own short synthesis, written for families. They were inspired by Mortimer J. Adler's Syntopicon, the index of great ideas in volumes 1 and 2 of Great Books of the Western World, but the questions, summaries and groupings are ours, not the Syntopicon's. Short excerpts come from public-domain translations, credited where they appear.

@teddyrookbook GitHub Sources and credits