Military rule may mean: *

Military justice Military justice (or military law) is the body of laws and procedures governing members of the armed forces. Many nation-states have separate and distinct bodies of law that govern the conduct of members of their armed forces. Some states us ...

, the legal system applying to members of the armed forces *

Martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

, where military authority takes over normal administration of law *

Military occupation Military occupation, also called belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is temporary hostile control exerted by a ruling power's military apparatus over a sovereign territory that is outside of the legal boundaries of that ruling pow ...

, when a country or area is occupied after invasion. **

List of military occupations This article presents a list of military occupations, both historic and contemporary, but only those that have taken place since the customary laws of belligerent military occupation were first clarified and supplemented by the Hague Convention ...

Military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

, a form of government where political power resides with the military *

Military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

("junta," from Spanish meaning "together") *

Military democracy A military democracy is a war-based society that practices democracy. The category is often applied to historical peoples. An example is Frederick Engels' characterization: According to Engels, the Greek Heroic Age was a typical example of milit ...

, a form of military government of a war-based society which practices

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

, with an elected and removable supreme chief, a council of elders, and a

popular assembly A popular assembly (or people's assembly) is a gathering called to address issues of importance to participants. Popular assemblies tend to be freely open to participation, in contrast to elected assemblies and randomly-selected citizens' as ...

. *

Stratocracy A stratocracy is a list of forms of government, form of government headed by military chiefs. The Separation of powers, branches of government are administered by military forces, the government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issu ...

, a form of government headed by military chiefs, The

branches of government The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state power (usually law-making, adjudication, and execution) and requires these operations of government to be conceptually and institutionally distinguishable ...

are administered by military forces, the government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and is usually carried out by military workers.

See also