<Tr> <Td> Republicanism </Td> <Td> A system in which the laws and governmental policies of the state are considered a "public matter" and decided by the citizens of the society, whoever they may be . Most modern nation - states are examples of republics, but other examples include those of ancient Rome and Athens . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Despotism </Td> <Td> A system in which the laws and resources of a nation are controlled by one individual, usually a monarch or dictator, who holds absolute political power . Examples include the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt and the Roman emperors . <P> (Often used as a slur by republicans to refer to all monarchical systems, monarchists conversely use the term to refer to systems in which monarchs have overstepped their boundaries, or to refer to some of the more totalitarian republican systems) </P> </Td> </Tr> <P> (Often used as a slur by republicans to refer to all monarchical systems, monarchists conversely use the term to refer to systems in which monarchs have overstepped their boundaries, or to refer to some of the more totalitarian republican systems) </P> <Tr> <Td> Feudalism </Td> <Td> A system of land ownership and duties common to medieval Europe . Under feudalism, all the land in a kingdom belonged tp the king . However, the king would give some of the land to the lords or nobles who fought for him . These presents of land were called manors . Then the nobles gave some of their land to vassals . The vassals then had to do duties for the nobles . The lands of vassals were called fiefs . <P> A similar system is the Iqta, used by medieval Islamic societies of the middle east and north africa . This functioned much like the feudal system but generally had titles that weren't granted to a family dynasty but to individuals at the behest of the sultan and generally only required a tax from the lower classes, instead of military service and / or manual labour like in the feudal system . </P> </Td> </Tr>

Examples of unitary systems include monarchies oligarchies and dictatorships