Foundations of Government

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Foundations of Government
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Politics Is?

• Power!Power Is?
• The ability to get others to act in accordance
  with your wishes, even if they dont want to.
• Is power force?
• Is power influence..?
• Is all power usable?
• Is all power legitimate?
• What gives power authority?

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Government Is?

• The institution through which a society enforces
  its public policies.
• Government is comprised of people, things,
  processes, and ideas!

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The State (not Texas, Illinois, etc.)From
Vatican City to Russia What do they have in
common?

• Population
• Territory
• Sovereignty
• Government

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Origins of the State??

• Force Theory
• Dictatorships
• Evolutionary Theory
• Primitive Cultures, all governments?
• Divine Right Theory
• Monarchies
• Social Contract Theory
• Democracies

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What is the Purpose of Government?

• Lets read (sing?) the Preamble!
• It all sounds good, but this is the REAL problem
  of scarcity, and the REAL opportunity cost!!!!

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Purposes of Government

• Form a more Perfect Union.
• Establish Justice
• Insure Domestic Tranquility
• Provide for the Common Defense
• Promote the General Welfare
• Secure the Blessing of Liberty

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Form a More Perfect Union

• After the Revolutionary Ear, the government
  needed to balance the powers of the colonies
  (states) with that of the National Government
• Articles of Confederation were a failure.

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Ensure Justice

• Power and authority to resolve issues
• Law should be reasonable, fair, and impartial
• Make and enforce laws
• Limit what people can do
• Court system to make final decisions

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Insure Domestic Tranquility

• Provide domestic order to avoid anarchy.
• Protect us from ourselves (Hobbes).
• Police
• FBI

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Provide Common Defense

• Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines Coast Guard
• State Department
• C.I.A.
• Defense Dept.
• Exclusive Power to Negotiate with Foreign Nations

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Provide General Welfare

• Building and Maintaining Roads
• Welfare
• Education
• National Parks
• Etc.
• Due to our free enterprise system, this role is
  smaller than many other countries.

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Forms of Government

• 1. Number Who can Participate
• 2. Relation Between Legislature and Executive
• 3. Geographic Distribution of Power

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Number Who Participate

• Dictatorship (One is the loneliest Number)
• autocracy
• oligarchy
• Democracy
• Direct Democracy
• Representative Democracy
• (Republic)

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Geographic Distribution

• Unitary power of the govt is held by a single
  agency (Great Britain) Most govts are unitary
• Confederation alliance of independent states
  weak central govt (U.S. articles of
  confederation)
• Federal power of the govt is divided between a
  central govt and regional govt (U.S. federal
  govt and states)

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Legislative v. Executive

• Parliamentary
• Concentrated power
• legislative has the power
• Prime minister is member of Parliament
• Presidential
• Separated power between the branches of
  government
• Elected President

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Foundations of Democracy

• Worth and dignity of every person Primacy of
  the individual.
• Equality of all persons
• Majority Rule with Minority Rights.
• Necessity of Compromise
• Individual Freedom
• Speech
• Press
• Religion
• Assembly
• Others?

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