The Principles of Government
• What is Government?
• Terms of Government
• Theories of How
Government Began
• The Purpose of
Government
What is Government?
• Government is among the
oldest of all human
inventions.
• Its origins are lost in mists of
time.
• The earliest known
governments date from
around 3000 B.C. in ancient
Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• The Greek philosopher
Aristotle observed more than
2,300 years ago that “man is
by nature a political animal.”
Many terms and concepts of government
originated in ancient Greece and Rome.
Politics
Democracy
Republic
Government
• Government is an
institution through
which a society makes
and enforces its public
policies.
• What are some
examples of public
policies?
• The list of public policy
issues is nearly endless.
Government
• Governments must have power in order to make
and carry out public policies.
• Every government has three basic kinds of power:
• 1. Legislative Power – The power to make law
• 2. Executive Power – The power to execute,
enforce, and administer law
• 3. Judicial Power – The power to interpret laws,
to determine their meaning, and to settle disputes
that arise within society.
Government
• These powers of
government are often
outlined in a country’s
constitution.
• A constitution is the
body of fundamental
laws setting out the
principles, structures,
and process of a
government.
The State
• Over the course of human history, the state has
emerged as the dominant political unit.
• A State is a political community that has these
four characteristics:
– 1) clearly defined boundaries- the exact location has
often lead to war
– 2) population
– 3) government
– 4) sovereignty- independent, has supreme authority
within its boundaries
The State
• Today there are more than 190 states in the world.
This has more than doubled from 50 years ago.
• People often call a state a “nation” or a “country.”
• However, the word nation is an ethnic term,
referring to races or other large groups of people.
• The word country is a geographic term, referring
to a particular place, region, or area of land.
• The most popular political type of states in the
world today are called nation-states.
The largest State
based on population
is:
The
People’s
Republic of
China
Population:
1,324,655,000
The largest State
based on territory is:
Russian
Federation
Area :
6,592,800
square miles
The smallest state
based on population
and territory is:
Vatican
City
Population: 1,000
Area [sq.mi]:
0.17
How did the state or
government come to be?
No one knows why people created the earliest
governments. Scholars have constructed
some theories.
Theories of the Origin of the
State
1) Evolutionary Theory
- Belief that the state
evolved gradually
from the family
(father> tribe> clan>
state)(Ex. Sioux
Indians, Israel)
Theories of the Origin of the
State
2) Force Theory-Belief
that a powerful
individual or a group
took over an area by
force & established
government.
Theories of the Origin of the
State
3) Divine Right TheoryBelief that God intended a
particular person and his
family to rule over a state.
(Egyptians, Chinese, and
Aztecs felt their rulers
were either descendants or
chosen by God. 1400's
England to oppose the
monarch was to oppose
God and was both treason
and sin.)
Theories of the Origin of the
State
4) Social Contractconceived by John Locke,
a British political theorist,
in 1690.Belief that people
were naturally endowed
with the right to life,
liberty, and property. To
preserve these rights they
freely gave power to a
governing authority.
The Social Contract Theory
States:
• 1) The state exists only to serve the
will of the people.
• 2) The people are the source of its
power.
• 3) The people can give and take
away power to the government.
Nearly a century later
the American colonies
revolted against King
George III, supported
by the political
philosophy of natural
rights Locke had
written.
The Purpose of Government
Today governments serve several major
purposes:
The Purpose of Government
1)To maintain social
order- people can't
live without conflict.
Gov't provides ways to
resolve conflict by
placing limits on what
people can do.
The Purpose of Government
2) To provide public
services - Gov't
provides essential
services that make
community life
possible and promotes
the general welfare.
Ex. sewer systems and
inspection of meat.
The Purpose of Government
3) To provide national
security- protect
people against the
threat of attack or
terrorism.
The Purpose of Government
4) To make economic
decisions-Gov't passes
laws that determine
and control the
economic environment
of the state. From
providing a national
currency to controlling
every individual's
economic decisions.
“The legitimate object of government is to do for a
community of people whatever they need to have done but
cannot do at all, or cannot so well do for themselves in
their separate and individual capacities. But in all that
people can individually do for themselves, government
ought not to interfere.” -Abraham Lincoln, 1854
Have Popular attitudes toward government changed
since Lincoln’s time?