The political structures and power hierarchies that organize societies in your fictional world and create pressure on your characters.
Government systems in fiction are the power structures that determine who rules, how decisions get made, and what happens to people who disagree. They range from monarchies and democracies to theocracies, mage councils, and hive minds. The system you choose shapes everything: what your characters can aspire to, what they fear, and what kinds of rebellion or ambition are possible. A well-designed government doesn't just sit in the background; it actively generates conflict.
Your characters don't exist in a political vacuum. The government system determines what's legal, who has power, and who gets crushed. Whether your protagonist is a queen navigating court intrigue or a peasant dodging conscription, the political structure shapes every choice they make. Pick a government that creates the specific pressures your story needs.
Martin uses feudal monarchy to generate endless succession crises, shifting alliances, and the question of what actually legitimizes power.
A feudal empire layered with religious orders, merchant guilds, and imperial politics, all competing for control of a single resource.
An unwanted heir navigates court politics in an elven empire, showing how government systems constrain even the person at the top.
Ask yourself what government system would naturally arise from your world's geography, resources, and history. A desert nomad culture probably wouldn't build Versailles.
If your world has a parliament, show it passing laws that constrain your hero. If it's a dictatorship, show the surveillance. The system should create obstacles.
Every government has dissenters, reformers, and people gaming the system. Show the cracks. That's where your stories live.
Design two rival nations with fundamentally different government systems (for example, a theocracy and a merchant republic). Write a one-page scene where ambassadors from each nation negotiate a trade deal, and let the friction between their systems drive the tension. Show how each diplomat's worldview is shaped by the politics they grew up in.