Kinds of Government

In most fantasy stories today, the most common form of government is either a monarchy or an emperor. To me, it has been very much overdone, as there are so many other forms of government that exist that could be used. Though I admit I broke my own rule for my story "War of Magic," where the setting is in an empire with an emperor, though there are other political or non-political parties involved too.

Nonetheless, here is a short list of some other governments that writers should use for their writing (this list came from The History Guy website):

Anarchy- I don't recall seeing this one very often, but you could have no form of government. It could be a dog-eat-dog world of chaos and lawlessness, which could lead to an interesting setting and/or plot.

Communism- I think American writers generally avoid this one because we associate it with countries like Russia and China and because it's non-democratic. Nonetheless, it could lead to some interesting stories (I think of Orwell's "1984" and Martin Cruz Smith's "Gorky Park when I think of settings with totalitarian communist governments).

Confederacy- This one is not very common, as it's not a common form of government. Because of my Southern heritage and because I sympathize more with the South than with the North (but let's not get into that discussion), I've tried using this form of government before, though none of the stories have succeeded plot-wise. This would be an interesting government because there would be no king or federal government, just local rulers in alliance with each other.

Constitutional- this could be democracy or monarchy, where either the democratic government is limited by a constitution or the monarchy is. I don't see this one much either, but it would certainly put an interesting twist on the traditional view of an absolute monarch.

Oligarchy- basically the government is made up of high-ranking people or those with lots of wealth. Interesting alternative to a monarchy.

Theocracy- this one is not looked upon favorably because of most people's stance on religion today, in how they believe religion and government should be separate. So I don't this one very often. But in a story, it could be done well and in an interesting way, provided it doesn't become preachy.

Dictator- most stories seem to have some form of a tyrant who is a ruler, but it is generally a king or an emperor. Several countries in the world today have dictators in power but aren't kings or emperors, so why not create a fantasy world with such men or women?

This is only a short list of the types of government that exist out there. But don't feel compelled to use the typical monarchy or emperor-rule that most writers do. Perhaps you could try a different form of government, combine a few existing ones together, or even make up your own. There are plenty of options, so take advantage of them.