BellRinger Activity
 Please grab a bellringer paper on the front desk, put your name at the top along with week of August 13-17, and answer this question under Monday:
 Question: Using your prior knowledge, please describe the difference (if any) between a nation, state, and country.

Principles of Government
Mr. Young
2, 3, 4, 5 periods

Essential Questions
 How do the four essential features help to determine whether a land mass is a state or not?
 How do the Purpose of government effect your life on a daily basis?

I CAN:
1.
2.
3.
Explain the difference between a country, nation, and a state.
List and define the four main purposes of government
Evaluate the major theories of the origin of the state

Difference between country, nation, state
 Country- geography of something, where it is located

Difference between country, nation, state
 Nation- denote the people, who lives there

Difference between country, nation, state
 State- the political within a territory

The State
 State- a body of people living in a defined territory, organized politically, with the power to make and enforce laws

The State
 Nation-state- when the boundaries of a state and nation are the same

Essentials Features of a State

1.
There are four common essential features that make up a state in today’s society
Population
2.
3.
Territory
Sovereignty
4.
Government
Video: http://www.hippocampus.org/History%20%26%
20Government?user=myKDE (half way)

Population
 Most obvious, how many people, what do they look like, etc
 Also affects stability, if pop shares a general political and social consensus, agreement about basic beliefs, then government is usually stable
 Also affected by mobility

Territory



1.
2.
3.
Basically what they own, what are there boundaries
Usually a source of major conflict
May change as a result of:
War
Negotiations purchase

Sovereignty
 Key to being a state
 Means that state has the supreme and absolute authority within its territorial boundaries
 No state has right to interfere with other state (in theory)

Government

1.

2.
Institution through which the state maintains social order, provides public services, and enforces decisions on all people living within the state
Derive power from two sources:
Legitimacy- willingness to obey the government
Coercive force- police, judicial, and military institutions

Theories of the Origin of the
State
 Evolutionary Theory-
Head family serves as authority, until they eventually needed more organization

Theories of the Origin of the
State
 Force Theorygovernment emerged when all the people of an area were brought under the authority of one person or group.

Theories of the Origin of the
State
 Divine Right Theorygod or gods had chosen certain people to rule.
 To oppose was to oppose a god or gods and to commit sin and treason

Theories of the Origin of the
State
 Social Contract
Theory- theory that by contract, people surrender to the state the power needed to maintain order and the state, in turn agrees to protect its citizens
 Important People:
John Locke and
Thomas Hobbes

Social Contract Theory

Essential Needs of a
Government (6)
 http://www.hippocampus.org/History%20%26
%20Government?user=myKDE
 From beginning

The Purposes of Government

3.
4.
1.
2.
Government has many purposes, but they will all fall somewhere under these four
Maintaining social order
Providing Public Service
Providing National Security
Making Economic Decisions

Maintaining Social Order
 People cannot live in groups without conflicts
 Provides ways of resolving conflicts among members of a group, such as making and enforcing laws

Providing Public
Services

1.
2.
3.

4.
Helps to provide essential services that people cannot provide by themselves
These include:
Roads
Buildings
Make and enforce laws
Public health and safety

Providing National Security
 Protect people from other states/nations or other threats
 Helps deal with foreign nations
 Major concern of sovereign state

Making Economic Decisions
 Governments use their power, money, and resources to help keep people happy
 Also use their resources to help other nations
 Try to stimulate economy to help people in struggling times

Essential Questions
 How do the four essential features help to determine whether a land mass is a state or not?
 How do the Purpose of government effect your life on a daily basis?