Most valuable description of a regime?

[stormbind]

If there was a database field in which to store only one value describing any government (or regime), which detail would historians find most valuable?

First example: 1936, Germany, Third Reich

Would Third Reich be the most valuable detail?

Second example: 2012, United Kingdom, ???

Would the same field (???) be filled with; Constitutional Monarch, Parliament, Labour, or what?

THANK YOU!!

 

[Steph]

Second example: 2012, United Kingdom, ???

Would the same field (???) be filled with; Constitutional Monarch, Parliament, Labour, or what?

The last proposition is the worst I think

Imagine:

2012, United Kingdom, what

 

[stormbind]

You could be a funny man, Steph, but it doesn't look any worse than..

UK, parliament
US, republic
North Korea, republic

Seriously, I want to be told how to describe regimes in a meaningful way.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

United States (post 1945): Rich$$$$$

 

[stormbind]

GDP is valuable in this scenario?

 

[Plotinus]

Are you asking for the best term to describe the system of government?

If so, then Nazi Germany wouldn't be "Third Reich" - that was the supposed name of the empire rather than a description. It should be "fascist dictatorship" or something like that.

Britain today would best be described as "constitutional monarchy", I think. "Democracy" is too vague and arguably not exactly accurate anyway. "Labour" is just the name of the party currently in power.

 

[stormbind]

Doesn't telepathy work on this forum anymore?

This is not an effort to sound condecending and I apologise in advance if it does..

What I would like is to see to what extent regime bias has influenced participation in international events. Or, I would like to list participation by regime bias. The problem is, how can we identify regime bias?

A constitutional monarchy in North Europe might have very different policies to those of a constitutional monarchy in S.E. Asia.

Perhaps government type needs to be very detailed to be valuable but I do not have time for details: if you have a feeling about which aspect you believe should be given priority, then that is what I'm looking for!