Functions of the Civil Service In enforcing the will of the state, the executive is assisted by a body of professional administrators. These administrators are called civil servants in some countries and they do not include officials working in the public corporations, local governments, the armed forces and the police. The civil service is therefore a body of appointed officials...

The difference between representative government and responsible governments depends on the nature of the legislature and the relationship between it and the executive. If the legislature is elected by the people, the system of government is representative and this is the ordinary system in all democracies, except in one-party states. In one party states where there is only one officially-recognized political party, there is no real choice between candidates and programmes.