Question

governments can also be authoritarian. read the table comparing power, authority, and legitimacy in democratic and authoritarian governments. then answer the question below.

	democratic governments	authoritarian governments
authority	determined by legal codes that specify government powers and limitations to ensure it represents the will of the people	comes from control over key institutions, generally without any legal limitations
legitimacy	comes from free and fair elections and government transparency	maintained through force, manipulation, and propaganda

which of the following describe characteristics of an authoritarian government? select all that apply.

• citizens have access to reliable information about government activities.
• the public generally does not have much influence on political decisions.
• the government only shares one - sided information with the public.
• government officials who break the law are usually removed from office.

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze each option using the table:

1. "Citizens have access to reliable information about government activities."

Democratic governments have transparency (legitimacy from transparency), but authoritarian governments use propaganda/manipulation (not reliable info). So this is incorrect.

1. "The public generally does not have much influence on political decisions."

Authoritarian power is centralized with "little or no input from citizens" (per the table). So this is correct.

1. "The government only shares one - sided information with the public."

Authoritarian legitimacy is maintained through "propaganda" (one - sided info). So this is correct.

1. "Government officials who break the law are usually removed from office."

Democratic authority has legal limitations (officials held accountable), but authoritarian authority has "no legal limitations" (less likely to remove law - breaking officials). So this is incorrect.

Answer:

B. The public generally does not have much influence on political decisions.
C. The government only shares one - sided information with the public.