The list of governments from least to most restrictive is D. Anarchy, democracy, oligarchy, and autocracy. Anarchy has no government, democracy allows people to have a say, oligarchy is ruled by a few elites, and autocracy is controlled by a single person.
The answer that lists these governments from least to most restrictive of the people's rights & power is D. Anarchy, democracy, oligarchy, & autocracy.
To understand this classification, one must look at the characteristics of each form of government:
- Anarchy is a state of society without government or law, where there is no formal structure to restrict people's actions.
- Democracy is a system of government where power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives, thus it's more open and less restrictive of rights.
- Oligarchy refers to a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small number of people. These people could be distinguished by nobility, wealth, family ties, corporate, or military control.
- Autocracy is a system of government in which supreme power is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control (absence of democracy).
Therefore, when comparing levels of restrictions on people's rights and power, anarchy would be the least restrictive, followed by democracy where people have a say in governance, oligarchy with a small elite group having control, and then autocracy, where one individual holds complete power over the state and its citizens.