Foundations of American Government
Key Terms
●State
●Sovereignty
●Nation
●Nation-state
●consensus
●government
●social contract
●philosopher
●affect
●theory
What is the State?
●The first serious students of politics and government were the Greeks.
●In the Western World, scholars look to the Greek philosopher Aristotle who
wrote famously, “man is a political animal.”
●For Greeks, state meant city-state which was made up of a town and its
surrounding area.
●In the modern world the term state means a political community with a precise
territory.
●A state has sovereignty – it makes and enforces its own laws without approval
from another authority
●Many of the Greek ideas survived through the Romans, however the Romans
were a republic, not a democracy. How do the two differ?
What is the State?
●Currently, 193 sovereign states are recognized by the UN, including the United
States.
●In an American context, we recognize 50 states in our federal system.
●The term nation is used for state, but actually means a sizable group of people
who believe themselves united by common bonds of race, language, custom or
religion.
●Not every modern state shares this make up: Not everyone in France is of French
descent, however both the nation and the state coincide. This is known as a nationstate.
●Some national groups have no state but desire one:
○ Ex: Some African states are made up of different nations or tribal groups.
●In most cases the terms state, nation and country are used interchangeably.
Essential Features of a State
What are the four essential features of
a modern state?
Essential Features of the State
There are four essential features that
make the modern state: population,
territory, sovereignty and government.
Essential Features of the State:
Population
●The nature of a state's population affects its stability.
●In states where there is a consensus about basic beliefs
and values, the government is most stable.
●The United States government is stable because most
Americans believe in a democratic system.
●Another way population affects a state is through
distribution.
●Recent population shifts have moved political power from
the Northeast to the Southwest.
●States with greater population gain representatives in
Congress and vice versa.
Essential Features of the State:
Territory
●Every state has establish boundaries.
●What are the boundaries of the United States?
○Canada
○Mexico
○Pacific Ocean
○Atlantic Ocean
●Political boundaries are often the source of conflict among
states and may change due to war, negotiations or
purchase.
Essential Features of the State:
Sovereignty
●The key characteristic of a state is sovereignty.
●Sovereignty means the state has supreme and absolute
authority within its boundaries.
●In theory - no state has the right to interfere with the
affairs of another state.
●In theory - every state is equal with respect to rights and
duties.
●In practice - states with great economic strength and
military capabilities have more power than other states.
Features of the State:
Government
Government is the institution through which
a state maintains social order, provides
public services and enforces decisions that
are binding on all its residents.
Origins of the State
●How did the state come to be?
●No one knows for sure but scholars have created
theories to explain the origins of the state.
●Include:
○Evolutionary Theory
○Force Theory
○Divine Right Theory
○Social Contract Theory
Origins of the State:
Evolutionary Theory
●Evolutionary Theory - believes the state evolved from the
family.
●The head of the primitive family supposedly served as the
government authority
●An extended family may include hundreds of people and
need a more organized government.
●Example - Abraham’s descendants in the Old Testament
of the Christian Bible.
Origins of the State: Force Theory
●In early civilizations, people cooperated to survive by
building walled cities.
●Some point to this fact to prove the state was born out of
force.
●They believe the state would not exist without a force to
keep out.
●A state then emerged when an area was brought under
the authority of a person or group.
Origins of the State:
Divine Right Theory
●Divine Right - the idea that certain people are chosen by a
god or gods to rule
●Specifically refers to European monarchs of the 1600s
and 1700s who claimed right to rule from God alone.
●To oppose the monarch was to oppose God, so not only
treason but sinful as well.
Origins of the State:
Social Contract Theory
●In the 1600s, Europeans began to challenge the divine right
theory.
●Among the challengers were Englishmen John Locke and
Thomas Hobbes.
●They believed in any society that a “state of nature” existed
where there was no government.
●To create a government a social contract was made between
ruler and ruled.
●Both had different views on contract terms.
Origins of the State:
Social Contract Theory
Hobbes thought in the “state of nature” life would be “nasty,
brutish and short”.
●What does he mean by this?
●In Hobbes social contract, people surrendered their freedom
in return for order and security.
●Hobbes believed as long as the government kept order,
people could not break their contract.
●
Origins of the State:
Social Contract Theory
●Locke lived during the removal of James II (divine right
believer) and replacement with William and Mary of
Orange.
●Locke defended the overthrow by this reasoning:
●In the “state of nature” men and women had certain
natural rights - life, liberty and property.
●Locke’s contract was made between people and
government promising to preserve those natural rights, if
they did not the people could rebel.
●A century later, American colonists used Locke's theory to
revolt against King George III.
Purposes of Government
●Modern government has several functions○maintain social order
○provide public services
○provide security and defense
○provide for the economy
●To fulfill these functions governments make laws and then carry
them out
●Authority is derived from two sources:
○legitimacy and force
●Legitimacy - willingness of citizens to obey the government
○Obtained in democratic countries through the power to vote
●Force - the police, judiciary, and military
○Example - pay your taxes or be imprisoned.
Purpose: Maintain Social Order
●According to social contract theory, people need government
because humans cannot live in peace.
●Government provides ways to resolve conflicts thus
maintaining social order.
●Governments can also make and enforce laws, requiring
people to do things they may not do voluntarily.
○Examples?
●Government provides law and order, making civilized life
possible.
●An effective government allows citizens to plan for the future,
get an education, raise a family and live orderly lives.
Purpose: Provide Public Service
●Providing essential services is an important purpose of
government making community life possible and promoting
general welfare.
●Examples of government provided public services?
●Other services promote public health and safety.
●Examples?
Purpose: Provide Security
●Protecting national security is a major concern of each
sovereign state
●In addition to protecting the nation from attack,
government also handles day-to-day relations with other
nations
●The Constitution gives the federal government a
monopoly over the relations with foreign nations.
●Government provides economic security by signing trade
agreements
●Some state governments have informal relations with
other nations to increase trade or cultural exchanges but
the national government can place limits on these
exchanges.
Purpose: Economic Decisions
●No country provides its citizens with everything they need or desire.
●Poverty and scarce resources has been a basic cause for conflict in
most countries
●The greater the income gap, the greater chance for conflict
●Poverty has even contributed to full blown revolutions
●With that in mind, leaders often try and reduce economic conflict
through intervention
●Governments may also intervene in other nations econimc affairs to
promote their own national security
○After WWII, the US funded the Marshall Plan due to fears of
Communist revolutions
●Government makes monetary policy, including but not limited to:
○farm subsidies
○tax incentives
○inflation control
○regulations