Winston Churchill said that democracy is "the worst system devised by the wit of man, except for all the others." Although the state has taken many forms throughout history, some consider it not a protector of its citizens and their freedoms, but a fetter on their liberty. This program provides a historical overview of the myriad forms of government that have existed and their organizing principles, whether it is a Greek city state such as Athens that granted each citizen rights or a 20th-century empire, such as the Soviet Union, where the individual was secondary to the omnipotent and monolithic state. (53 minutes)

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Part of the Series : The Development of Community | Behold Humanity! A Sociological Perspective

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