In the beginning what was there? What types of government existed in the earliest of times? Was there any government? Who really knows, likely the strongest caveman was the ruler of the clan and made all of the important decisions. Some of the earliest thinkers, Plato and Aristotle, thought that there was two ways of defining government back then as well as today. Government can be conducted in such a fashion that it can be done lawlessly or lawfully. Lawfully refers to government that is run in the common good and for the people. Lawlessly refers to a leader or a group of leaders that act according to their own self-interests. In the same respect there could be rule by many a different numbers of people. There could be rule by one, rule by a few, and rule by many. The lawful name for rule of one is called a Monarchy; the lawless name for this same type of ruler is called a Tyranny. The lawful name for rule of the few is called Aristocracy, while the lawless rule of the few is called an Oligarchy. Finally, the lawful name for rule of the many is called a Polity, or a Constitutional Monarchy, as it is commonly know; while the name for the lawless rule of the many is called a democracy. .
A monarchy for Plato and Aristotle was a regime in which sovereign authority was vested in one person, who ruled within the laws of the polis or city. Its corrupt counterpart was a tyranny, in which one person ruled arbitrarily. What this means is that the lawful regimes of Plato and Aristotle's time were not corrupt but rather did what was in the good of the nation or polis. A monarchy had all of the power in the hand of one individual so there was not always concept of accountability because one person with all of the power could likely just turn around and do what ever they wanted. But this did not happen in the time of Plato and Aristotle because of the factor of corruption. If the monarch became corrupt the people could just overthrow the monarch and demand a new one.
