An Introduction to Government
What is government?
• Signs of government are found everywhere.
•Government is defined as an institution with
the power to make and enforce rules for a
group of people.
What is an institution?
• An institution is a significant relationship, practice,
or organization in a society or culture.
What other institutions establish rules?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Churches
Clubs
Sports
Schools
Parents/Families
What is government? … continued
• The government has sovereignty over its citizens.
♦ Sovereignty – absolute authority or power
♦ Citizen – the members of a community or state
• Governments of sovereign countries establish rules
for their citizens by making laws.
♦ Law – a set of rules, made and enforced by
government.
What are the jobs of government?
1. Maintaining Order
2. Providing Services
3. Resolving Conflict
4. Promoting Values
Which picture matches each job of government?
Maintaining Order
Governments maintain order by:
1. Enforcing laws that protect the safety and security
of people and property
2. Protecting people from unfair or harmful business
practices
3. Protecting the country from foreign invasion
4. Protecting and promoting businesses
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/occupy-wallstreet-protest-broadens-scope-20111005
Providing Services
What services does our government
provide?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Building & maintaining roads and bridges
Inspecting food and medicine
Delivering mail
Assisting the needy
Building schools
Resolving Conflict
•Government helps resolve conflict by bringing
people together to reach common goals through
compromise.
•Compromise is when each side gives up something
to get something to resolve a conflict.
Promoting Values
• What values does our government try to promote
by the laws/rules that they pass?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Safety
Equality
A good education
Freedom
Respect for individual rights
Public Good
• All of these jobs of government share a
fundamental purpose: to serve the public good.
− Public Good – The well-being of society as a whole.
Types of Governments
• Governments are different in 2 major ways:
1. Where their power to rule comes from
2. How the power is distributed among levels
1. Where their power to rule comes from
−
−
−
Monarchies
Republics
Dictatorships
2. How the power is distributed among levels
−
−
−
Unitary system
Federal system
Confederal system/Confederation
Where their power comes from
Monarchy, Republic, Dictatorship
Monarchy
• A monarch draws its power from being born into the ruling
family (The ruler inherits it).
• Monarch is just a BIG word for king or queen.
• A monarchy is one of the oldest forms of government. Until
the early part of the 1900’s most countries were ruled by
monarchs. Today, around 40 countries have monarchs.
• Besides a king or queen, today’s monarchs go by many
names including sultan, emperor, and amir.
• Many countries have constitutional monarchs – the
king/queen is primarily the ceremonial head of state.
− The queen of England is a constitutional monarch.
Netherlands
England
Saudi Arabia
Republic
• In a republic the government gets its power from
the people.
− The terms republic & democracy can be used
interchangeably.
Dictatorship
•
In a dictatorship, power is achieved and maintained
through force.
•
Power is concentrated in the hands of a single person or a
small group.
•
Dictatorships are authoritarian because rulers answer only
to themselves not the people.
•
Sometimes dictatorships are so extreme that they become
totalitarian.
− Totalitarian rulers have complete control over all
aspects of citizen’s lives.
•
Types of Dictatorships:
1. Autocracy – rule by one.
2. Oligarchy – rule by a few
Columbia
Iraq
Egypt
Germany
Libya
Distribution of power among levels
Unitary system, Federal system, Confederal system
3 Levels of Government
1. National or Federal level
2. State or Regional level
3. Local or city/county level
1. Unitary System
• All power is held by the National (Federal) level of
government.
2. Federal System
• Power is divided among national, state, and local
levels of government.
3. Confederal System
• There may be no national government or a weak
national government. Also called a
confederation.
Foundations of Democracy
Types of Democracy
• Democracy came from ancient Athens, Greece.
• There are two types of democracy:
1. Direct Democracy- a system in which laws may be
made directly by all citizens
2. Representative Democracy – a type of
democracy where people elect officials to
represent them in government.
What makes a democracy endure?
• During the 1900’s, democracy has been the one
form of government that has not seen a decline.
Benefits of Democracy
1. Allows choice
2. Recognizes individual worth
3. Promotes respect for the law
4. Protects minority rights
5. Promotes the public good