Providing a valuable resource for secondary school and college students as well as the general public investigating the process of governance in different countries, this book provides a comprehensive comparative summary of how governments are constituted and operated worldwide. It covers forms of government that include democracies, republics, communist states, monarchies, transitional governments, and theocracies as well as transnational organizations. Each chapter begins with an overview of that particular government type, identifying the general philosophies, practices, and ruling structures in addition to making comparisons of several key countries that follow that government type.