Principles of
Government
Unit 1 Vocabulary
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Government
Public policy
Democracy
State
Sovereignty
(sovereign)
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
17.
Social
Contract
Theory
18.
Representative 19.
democracy
Direct
democracy
Republic
Limited
government
U.S.
Constitution
Precedent
Writ of
Habeas
Corpus
What is government?

“the institution through which a
society makes and enforces public
policies”
What is public policy?
Polices, or actions that the government
chooses to do.
 Examples: taxation, education, health
care, national defense, civil rights.

What is a state?
 “a
body of people, living in a defined
territory, organized politically, and has
the power to make and enforce law
without the consent of any higher
authority.”
 Think of this as a “political state”
Characteristics of a state:
what must a state have to
function?
 Population
 Territory
 Sovereignty
 Government
Characteristics of The State
1.
Population
a)
A state must have people
I.
2.
Smallest state San Marino 27,000
Territory
a.
Must have recognized boundaries
I. Largest Russia 6.6 Million Square Miles
II. Smallest San Marino 24 Square Miles
III. United States is about half the size of Russia
Characteristics of The State
3.
Sovereignty
 The
state has supreme in absolute
POWER within its own territory
 The state can decide its own foreign and
domestic policies
 Who holds the power? A person or the
people?
4.
Government –
 Every
state is politically organized
 Government consist of the machinery and
personnel by which the state is ruled
 Government takes many forms
But first……
What is a
theory?
Theory:
A proposed explanation or
hypothesis designed to account for
any phenomenon.
Something that has not been
proven.
:
Theories on How Government Developed
 The Force Theory
 Government
developed b/c someone forced
others to obey their rules

Evolutionary Theory
 Government
developed out of the family
structure

Divine Right Theory
 Government
leaders get their power from a
higher being

Social Contract Theory…
The Social Contract
Theory

State developed voluntarily. People created
government therefore government serves the
people. People can change the government.
 Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu
 Popular sovereignty
 Limited government
 Individual rights
 Branches of government
So…what does this have to
do with OUR government?
 Does
anyone want to guess which of
the theories defines the United States
government?
 Social
Contract Theory
Representative Democracy
Democracy= government that is run by the
people
 A representative democracy is one where
public policies are made by officials who
are selected by the voters and held
accountable in periodic elections.

 The
United States has a representative
democracy
Direct Democracy

A government in which the sovereignty is
given to ALL people that choose to
participate in the government
 It
is difficult to find a government with a direct
democracy today; the best example of a direct
democracy were the colonial governments in
New England (during America’s colonial
period)

Why can’t the United States have a direct
democracy today?
Republic

a state in which the supreme power rests
in the body of citizens entitled to vote and
is exercised by representatives chosen
directly or indirectly by them.
 From

www.dictionary.com
A republic is almost synonymous with
representative democracy
What is the Purpose of
our Government?

A solid answer is found in the preamble of
our constitution……
 To
Form a More Perfect Union
 To Establish Justice
 To Insure Domestic Tranquility
 To Provide For a Common Defense
 To Promote the General Welfare
 To Secure the Blessings of Liberty
To Form a More
Perfect Union
To Establish
Justice
To Ensure
Domestic
Tranquility
To provide for the
Common
Defense
To Promote the
General Welfare
To Secure the
Blessings of
Liberty
Forms of Government

2 major indicators that describe the form of
government in a state
 Participation
 Distribution
of power
Participation

To know what form of government a state
has, ask yourself: who can participate?
 Democracy
Political authority rests with the people
 Who has sovereignty?

 Direct

and Indirect democracy
Is a representative democracy direct or indirect?
Participation

To know what form of government a state
has, ask yourself: who can participate?
 Dictatorship-
absolute power
Autocracy: a single person has unlimited power
 Oligarchy: power is held by a small group of
people

Distribution of Power

Question asked: where is the power to govern
located?
 Unitary
government: power belongs mainly in the
central government (rather than local government
agencies)



Local governments only have powers that are given to them
by the central government- main purpose is to relieve the
central government of all of its responsibilities
There is a DIFFERENCE between a unitary government and
a dictatorship. In a unitary government, the government’s
power can still be limited (meaning there are certain things
that the government cannot do).
A government can be unitary AND democratic
Distribution of Power

Question asked: where is the power to govern
located?
 Federal
Government- powers of government are
divided between a central government and local
governments


Responsibilities are sometimes shared, but they are also
divided between different LEVELS of government
Example: The United States


No Child Left Behind: National government legislation
It is the state’s responsibility to create and control their state’s
education system. The Law, NCLB, gave guidelines to the
states (a national government power), but the responsibility
ultimately lies with the states. You take Georgia state tests, not
national tests
Distribution of Power

Question asked: where is the power to govern
located?
 Confederation-
government power resides with local
government agencies (like states in the United States)

The central government ONLY has the power to do what the
states assign it to do




I.e. defense (military)
The national government is NOT strong, and the governing
authority that has the most control is the state government
States are loosely bound together by the central authority
Example: European Union- The EU has some authority over its
states (European countries). For example, it created a currency
that is shared amongst all of the European countries, the Euro
Characteristics of
Democracy
Characteristics of Democracy

There are four main principles that describe
a democracy… If a government meets
these requirements, then it is a democracy
Individual
Liberty
Majority Rule with Minority
Right
Free Elections
Competing Political Parties
Individual Liberty
 People
are FREE
 People have rights
 Equal Opportunity
Majority Rule with Minority Rights
 Decisions
based on the will of the
majority
 Consideration of the minority
groups
Free Elections
 People
elect representatives- giving
them their consent to govern over
them
 There is a choice
 One person, one vote
 Candidates express their views freely
 Citizens can take part in campaigns
Competing Political Parties
 Political
party: group of individuals
with broad common interests who
organize and support candidates for
office; develop specific ideologies that
tie them together
 Rival parties make
elections meaningful