The type of government you choose for your colony affects it in various ways, see their detailed descriptions below.

You can only change it once every 30 game days, or 12 real hours.

You rule with an iron fist, and your citizens only have one purpose: hard work. There is little room for creativity, and very few people will look to migrate to your colony. However, even less manage to leave. If the colony is attacked, more civilians will help defend it. Not out of patriotism, but because "or else"

Autocracy is not a good approach for creating that happy utopia, but it is a viable option for inhospitable places, using force to prevent people from leaving and making them work the mines extra hard.

Ruled by a group chosen through inheritance or merit, not by the people.

A plutocracy is the most efficient form of government available to you, but not necessarily the most popular. It is a good middle ground for colonies that are not stable enough to afford the freedoms of Democracy.

The rule most sought after by the people. However, freedom comes at a price. While your citizens will be happier and more creative, some will abuse their privileges, resulting in higher crime. As you treat your workers fairly and afford them more labor rights, industrial productivity is lower. Due to freedom of movement, your colony must provide, or people will leave in droves.

This is the best choice for well managed colonies.

A full overview of the relative effects of each government type.

	Resources	Creativity*1	Happiness	Crime	Immigration	Emigration	Alignment
Autocracy*2*3	120%	worse -	worse --	better +	worse ---	better +++	worse
Plutocracy	100%					better +
Democracy	85%	better ++	better +	worse --	better +	worse --	better

1* Creativity is the effectiveness of Entertainers, Teachers, Recreation Centers and Academies.
2* Under Autocracy you will field more civil defenses.
3* Under Autocracy you will recruit new crew faster, your entrepreneurs will be less effective, your police stations will be more effective, and your academies and clinics will be slightly more effective.