What is Government?

1
What is Government?
2
What is Government?

• Purpose
• Enforce Public Policies (what are they?)
• Security v. Freedom
• Characteristics
• 3 Branches
• Legislative
• Executive
• Judicial
• Most bound by a constitution

3
State

• What is a state?
• A body of people, living in a defined territory,
  organized politically and with the power to make
  and enforce law without the consent of any higher
  authority.
• Nation v. Country

4
Characteristic of a State

• Population
• Territory
• Sovereignty
• Government

5
Origins of Government

• Force Theory
• Evolutionary Theory
• Divine Right Theory
• Social Contract

6
Classifying Governments

1. Who can participate?
2. The geographic distribution of governmental power
   within the state
3. The relationship between the legislative and
   executive branches of government

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Who can participate?

• Democracy
• Despotism
• Autocracy
• Oligarchy

8
Who can participate? Democracy

• Supreme political authority rests w/ people
• People hold sovereign power and government is
  conducted only by with the consent of the
  people
• government of the people, by the people and for
  the people. Abraham Lincoln

9
Who can participate? Democracy

• Direct- (pure democracy)- people themselves
  create the policies
• Practical for small communities
• Indirect- (representative democracy)- group of
  people are chosen to represent specific
  populations

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Who can participate? Democracy
11
Who can participate? Despotism

• Those whos rule cannot be held responsible to
  the will of the people
• Oldest and most common throughout history
• Autocracy
• Oligarchy
• Totalitarian
• Usually gain power through force

12
Geographic Distribution of Power

• Unitary Government
• Federal Government
• Confederate Government

13
Geographic Distribution of PowerUnitary
Government

• Centralized
• Great BritainParliament
• Local Governments only to relieve burden of
  menial tasks
• Doesnt mean Dictatorship!!!

14
Geographic Distribution of PowerFederal
Government

• Division of Power
• Ex USA, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Germany,
  Switzerland, India and 20 others

15
Geographic Distribution of PowerConfederate
Government

• Alliance of independent states
• Ex USA Between 1781-1789, EU

16
Relationship between Legislative and Executive
Branches

• Presidential Government (USA, France)
• Executive and legislative branches of the
  Government are separate
• Independent
• Equal
• Parliamentary (Great Britain, India)
• Executive is the leader of the majority party

17
Types of Government

• Anarchy
• Democracy
• Autocracy
• Monarchy
• Dictatorship
• Oligarchy
• Stratocracy
• Theocracy
• Plutocracy

18
Positives and Negatives of Government