People and Government

1. People and Government Chapter 1

2. Principles of Government Section 1

3. Basic Questions • What is the proper function of government? • What form of government serves best? • Where or why did government originate? • Is government really necessary? • What does government have to do with my life?

4. Origins of Government Many terms and concepts of government originated in ancient Greece and Rome. Aristotle, a scholar in ancient Greece, was one of the first students of government • Politics • Democracy • Republic (all terms that originated in ancient Greece)

5. A state is a political community that occupies a definite territory and has an organized government with the power to make and enforce laws without approval from any higher authority The term country has basically the same meaning as the term state. The term state comes from the Latin word that means “to stand.” The United States is one of more than 160 states in the world today. What is a State?

6. A nation is any sizable group of people who are united by common bonds or race, language, custom, tradition and sometimes, religion. The term nation is often used to describe an independent state or country. What is a Nation?

7. Population Territory Sovereignty Government States where the population shares a general political and social consensus (agreement) about basic beliefs have the most stable governments. The mobility of the population often leads to a shift in political power. A state has established boundaries (territory) that sometimes change as a result of war, negotiations or purchase. Four Essential Features of a State

8. Population Territory Sovereignty Government The key characteristic of a state is sovereignty. Political sovereignty means that the state has supreme and absolute authority within its territorial boundaries. In theory, no state has the right to interfere with the internal affairs of another state. In reality, states with great economic strength and military capabilities have more power than other states. Four Essential Features of a State

9. Four Essential Features of a State • Population • Territory • Sovereignty • Government • Every state has some form of government. • Government is the institution through which a state maintains social order, provides public services and enforces decisions that are binding on all people living within the state.

10. Theories of the Origin of the State • Evolutionary Theory – The theory that the state evolved from the family. (Example – Abraham’s descendants in the Old Testament of the Bible) • Force Theory – The theory that government emerged when all the people of an area were brought under the authority of one person or group. • Divine Right Theory – The theory that the gods or God has chosen certain people to rule. (Examples: Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Chinese, Aztecs and European monarchs of the 1400’s) • Social Contract Theory – The theory that the people of the state surrender power to the state in return for order and protection.

11. Thomas Hobbes English philosopher who wrote about the social contract. He believed that in a “state of nature” that no government existed and that life was “nasty, short and brutish.” People surrender power to the state in exchange for order and protection. He believed that people did not have the right to break this agreement. John Locke English philosopher who wrote about the social contract. He believed that people were naturally endowed with the right to life, liberty and property. To preserve these rights, they willingly contracted to give their power to a governing authority. When government failed to preserve the rights of the people, the people could justly break the contract. Locke’s theory would be the basis for the American colonies declaration of independence from King George III. Social Contract Theory

12. The Purposes of Government Today governments serve several major purposes for the state. Among the most important are: • To maintain social order • To provide public services • To provide for national security and a common defense • To provide for and control the economic system.

13. What must governments do to carry out their tasks? • The decisions of government are authoritarian – they can be enforced upon all of society. • Governments derive their authority from two sources – their legitimacy and their ability to use coercive force. • Legitimacy is the willingness of the citizens to obey the government and in democratic countries it is based on the consent of the people. • Coercive force is derived from the police, judicial and military institutions of government. • Governments can force people to pay taxes and can punish offenders by fines or imprisonment.

14. Maintaining Social Order • In 1690, John Locke explained in his book, Two Treatises of Government , that people need government to maintain social order because they have not yet discovered a way to live in groups without conflict. • Governments provide ways of resolving conflicts among group members, helping to maintain social order. • Governments make and enforce laws to maintain social order. • Governments provide structures such as courts to help people resolve disagreements in an orderly manner. • Government controls and contains conflict between people by placing limits on what individuals are permitted to do. • An effective government allows citizens to plan for the future, get an education, raise a family, and live orderly lives.

15. Providing Public Services • President Abraham Lincoln believed that one important purposes of government is to provide essential services that make community life possible and promote the general welfare. • Governments undertake projects that individuals could not or would not do on their own. • Governments also provide an essential service by making and enforcing laws that promote public health and safety.

16. Providing Natural Security • Another task of government is to protect the people against the threat of attack by other states or from internal threats such as terrorism. • Government also handle’s the state’s normal relations with other nations. • The United States Constitution gives our national government a monopoly over our nation’s dealing with foreign countries. • Government helps to provide economic security by enacting trade agreements with other countries. • Some state governments in the United States maintain informal relations with foreign governments for trade and cultural purposes. The national government has the power to limit these arrangements.

17. Making Economic Decisions • Nations vary in their ability to provide their citizens with economic opportunities or resources. • No country provides its citizens with everything they need or desire. • Material scarcity is often the cause of conflict in society. To prevent this governments often use their power to intervene in the economic system. • Sometimes governments intervene in other countries to maintain stability. • Governments pass the laws that determine and control the economic environment of the nation. • Governments also may make choices that distribute benefits and public services among citizens. • Governments usually try to stimulate economic growth by and stability through controlling inflation, encouraging trade, and regulating the development of natural resources.

18. The Formation of Governments Section 2

19. Formation of Governments • The characteristics of a nation’s government relate to that nations historical development. • To carry out their functions, governments have been organized in a variety of ways. • Many large countries have several different levels of government. • These levels usually include a central or national government as well as smaller divisions such as provinces, states, cities, towns and villages.

20. Unitary System • A unitary system of government gives all key powers to the national or central government. • The central government creates state, provincial, or other local governments and gives them limited sovereignty. • Examples: Great Britain, Italy and France

21. Federal System • A federal system of government divides the power between the national government and state or provincial governments. • Each level of government has sovereignty in some areas. • Example: United States

22. Confederation • After the Revolutionary War, the United States formed a confederacy. • A confederacy is a loose union of independent states. • When this system failed, the Constitution made the national government supreme while preserving some state government powers. • Examples: Canada, Switzerland, Mexico, Australia and India

23. Constitutions and Government A constitution is a plan that provides the rules for government. A constitution serves several major purposes: 1) It sets out the ideals that the people bound by the constitution believe in and share 2) It establishes the basic structure of government and defines it’s powers and duties. 3) It provides the supreme law for the country.

24. Constitutions • Provide rules that shape the actions of government and politics • May be written or unwritten • U.S. Constitution written in 1787 is the oldest written constitution still serving a nation today • Great Britain has no written constitution • Other examples of countries with written constitutions include France, Kenya, India, Italy and Switzerland.

25. Constitutional Government • A constitutional government is a government in which a constitution has authority to place clearly recognized limits on the powers of those who govern. • Constitutional government is limited government.

26. Incomplete Guides • Constitutions are important but incomplete guides to how a country is actually governed. • They are incomplete for the following two reasons: 1) No written constitution can contain all the laws, customs and ideas that govern a country. 2) A constitution does not always reflect the actual practice of government in a country.

27. A Statement of Goals • Most constitutions usually contain a statement that sets forth the goals and purposes to be served by the government called a preamble. • The Preamble of the United States Constitutions contains six major goals for the American government. These goals are: 1) to form a more perfect Union 2) establish Justice 3) insure domestic Tranquility 4) provide for the common defense 5) promote the general Welfare 6) secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity

28. A Framework for Government • The main body of a constitution sets out the plan for government. • In federal states such as the United States, the constitution also describes the relationship between the national governments and state governments. • Most constitutions also describe the procedure for changing or amending the document.

29. Organization of the United States Constitution Preamble – Statement of the six goals of American government Articles (7) – Articles are divided into sections. There are a total of 21 sections in the United States Constitution Amendments (27)

30. The Highest Law • Constitutions provide the supreme law for states. • Constitutional law involves the interpretation and application of the constitution. • Constitutional law concerns defining the extent and limits of government power and the rights of citizens.

31. Politics and Government • Politics is the effort to control or influence the conduct and policies of government. • Politics and government are closely related. • Citizens participate in politics when they vote, join a citizen’s group to protest or to ask the government to do something. • There is a constant struggle over what benefits and services government should provide, how much they should cost, and who should pay for them. • Government should promote the general welfare or the interests of all the people, not favoring any special group or person.

32. Types of Government Section 3

33. Types of Government • Over the centuries, people have organized their governments in many different ways. • In Saudi Arabia, the ruling royal family controls the government and its resources. Family members choose the king from among themselves. • In Burkina Faso in Africa a small group of wealthy landowners and military officers run the country. • In Sweden, the people elect the Riksdag, the national legislature, which in turn selects the prime minister. • The United States has established a representative democracy which serves as model for government and inspires people around the world. • In 1989, students in China marched for “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” • Other forms of government outnumber true democracies.

34. Types of Government • Governments can be classified in many ways. • The most time-honored system comes from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. • It is based on the key question: Who governs the state? • Under this system of classification, all governments belong to one of three major groups: 1) autocracy – rule by one person 2) oligarchy – rule by a few persons 3) democracy – rule by many persons

35. An autocracy is a system of government in which the power and authority to rule are in the hands of a single individual. Oldest and one of most common forms of government. Most autocrats have maintained their positions of authority by inheritance or the ruthless use of military or police power. Autocracy

36. Autocracy Absolute or totalitarian dictatorship The ideas of the leader or group of leaders are glorified. The government controls all aspects of social and economic life. Examples include: 1) Nazi Germany (Hitler) 2) Italy (Mussolini) 3) Soviet Union (Stalin)

37. Monarchy is another form of autocracy. In a monarchy a king, queen, or emperor exercises the supreme powers of government. Monarchs usually inherit their positions. Absolute monarchs have complete and unlimited power to rule their people. Absolute monarchs are rare today, but from the 1400’s to 1700’s absolute monarchs ruled most of Western Europe. Example: Saudi Arabia Constitutional monarchs share governmental powers with elected legislatures or serve mainly as ceremonial leaders of their governments. Examples: Great Britain, Sweden, Japan and the Netherlands Autocracy

38. An oligarchy is any system of government in which a small group holds power. The group derives its power from wealth, military power, social position, or a combination of these elements. Sometimes religion is the source of power. Both dictatorships and oligarchies sometimes claim that they rule for the people. They may give the appearance that people are in control. Today the governments of communist countries, such as China and North Korea are mostly oligarchies. Oligarchy

39. A democracy is any system of government in which rule is by the people. The term democracy comes from the Greek words demos (meaning “the people”) and kratia (meaning “rule”) The key idea of democracy is that people hold sovereign power. Abraham Lincoln described democracy as “the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Democracy

40. In a direct democracy, the people govern themselves by voting on issues individually as citizens. This form of democracy only exists in very small societies where the citizens can meet regularly to discuss and decide key issues and problems. New England town meetings are direct democracy as well as some smaller states (cantons) in Switzerland. No country today has a government based on direct democracy. In an indirect or representative democracy, the people elect representatives and give them the responsibility and power to make laws and conduct government. An assembly of the people’s representatives may be called a council, a legislature, a congress or a parliament. Representative Democracy is practiced in cities, states, provinces and countries where the population is too large to meet regularly in one place. It is the most efficient way to ensure that the rights of individual citizens, who are part of a large group, are represented. Democracy

41. Democracy • In a republic, voters hold sovereign power. Elected representatives who are responsible to the people exercise that power. • When Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government was given to the new nation, he replied “a republic, if you can keep it.” • His answer demonstrated that the Founders preferred a republic over a monarchy but that a republic requires citizen participation. • For most Americans today, the terms representative democracy, republic, and constitutional republic mean the same thing – a system of government where the people are the ultimate source of governmental power. • Not every democracy is a republic. Great Britain is a democracy, but not a republic because it has a constitutional monarch as head of state.

42. Characteristics of Democracy • Individual Liberty • Majority Rule with Minority Rights • Free Elections • Competing Political Parties

43. Individual liberty:People can be free as possible (w/o infringing on others’ rights) Citizens have equal opportunities to advance • Majority Rule with Minority Rights:People accept decisions made by the majority (vote). Minority still is protected by Constitution (free to speak out against majority, etc)

44. Free Elections:gives people a chance to choose their leaders/voice opinionsAlso ensures the elected officials pay attention to the will of the people. “One person, one vote.” • Competing Political Parties:Political party: individuals with broad common interests who nominate candidates, win elections, conduct government and determine public policy.

45. Democracy is more likely to succeed in countries with the following: • Active Citizen Participation • A Favorable Economy • Widespread Education • Strong Civil Society • A Social Consensus