Kritarchy

Part of the Politics series
Basic forms of government
Power structure
Confederal Federal Hegemony Imperial Unitary
Power source
Democracy Direct Representative others
Monarchy Absolute Constitutional
Oligarchy Aristocracy Military junta Plutocracy Stratocracy Timocracy
Authoritarian Autocracy Despotism Dictatorship Totalitarianism
Other Anarchy Anocracy Kritarchy Republic Theocracy
Politics portal

Kritarchy refers to the rule of judges (Hebrew: שופטים‎, shoftim) in ancient Israel during the period of time described in the Book of Judges. Because it is a compound of the Greek words κριτής, krites ("judge") and ἄρχω, árkhō ("to rule"), its use has expanded to cover rule by judges in the modern sense, as well, as in the case of the Somalia, ruled by judges with the tradition of xeer, as well as the Islamic Courts Union.^{[citation needed]}