WHAT ARE
GOVERNMENTS
FOR?
What are governments?

19th Century: night watchman states
›

Provide law and order, defense, protect property
20th Century: Police state and welfare states
›
Welfare state: from Bismarck to US


However, Western Europe focuses on health equality, US
focuses on equality of opportunity and education
Welfare states have grown into regulatory states because
governments have become large and inefficient
Reformation and Enlightenment


Church being
questioned-as was
divine right
Martin Luther-focused
on individual rights
and right to worship
God directly
Locke vs Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes believed the
state’s only job is to stop
disorder, protect against war;
actually encouraged democratic
thought while defending royal
absolutism

John Locke
believed the
state’s job is to
protect property,
commerce and
economic growth
Locke vs. Hobbes
Adapted from www.jim.com/hobbes.htm
Issue
Locke: Second Treatise on Government
Hobbes: Leviathan
Human nature
and natural
law
Man is by nature a social animal and they
Man is not by nature a social
have an ability to know right and wrong and animal, society only exists
what is theirs and someone else’s
through the state and
property only exists through
the state
The State of
Nature
Men were honest, and while insecure it was
peaceful, good and pleasant
No society, man lives in
continual fear of death; life is
solitary, poor, short
The Social
Contract
We give up our right to ourselves exact
retribution for crimes in return for impartial
justice
If you shut up and do as your
told, you have right not to be
killed
Violation of
Social
Contract
If a ruler seeks absolute power, he is in a
state of war with citizens and they have a
right to kill the ruler
No right to rebel; ruler’s
define good and evil
Role of the
State
The only role of the state is to ensure that
justice is being done
Whatever the state does is
just by definition
Jean Jacques Rousseau

The Social Contract
 Freedom
of Thought
and Action
 All citizens could and
should join in the
making of laws
agreed on by the basis
of the general will
Other functions of governments

1. Community and
nation building
 teaching
common
language, heritage,
values, symbols, myths,
identity

2. Security and order
 Internal
security
and external
Other functions

3. Protecting property
and other rights

Without protections of
property, people won’t work
to create sustained economic
growth

4.
Promoting economic efficeincy and
growth to prevent economic failure

Provide public goods (national defense,
clean air, parks)

Externalities---natural monopolies
Other functions

5. Social justice

Create level playing field
through redistribution

6. Protect the weak
 Children
 Aged
 Disabled
 Animals
 Environment
Critics of governments

Anarchists

Communitarians
 Believe governments destroy
communities

Libertarians
 Individualists
 Governments
violate
basic rights of people
Other criticisms of government



Creates economic inefficiency---government has too
much involvement in the economy
Government is good for private gain---common in
poor societies where politics is the path to wealth
Government protects vested interests---the larger
the government, harder to change
Alternatives

Markets
 Libertarians
argue that
less government is
more government

Voluntary
Coordination
 Anarchists
would like to
see the office holders
closer to the people
and more opportunities
for people to
participate in decision
making