ThoughtCo. 

The College Board currently awards four types of AP Scholar Awards. Learn more about what each one signifies and how they demonstrate student success:

Democracy, literally meaning “rule by the people,” empowers individuals to exercise political control over the form and functions of their government. While they come in several forms, they tend to all share certain features:

Plutocracy describes a recognized type of government, such as democracy, communism, or monarchy, that either intentionally or by circumstance allows the wealthy to control most political and economic aspects of the society.

Colonialism is the process of a country taking full or partial political control of a dependent country, territory, or people. Explore the history of this practice and its evolution into new forms:

Kleptocracy is a form of government in which the leaders, known as kleptocrats, use their political positions of power to gain or increase their personal wealth by stealing money and valuable resources from the countries they rule.

Absolute monarchy is a mostly-extinct form of government in which a single person—usually a king or queen—holds absolute, autocratic power.