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Foundations of American Government

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Unit I Foundations of American Government Objectives; Define Government and examine the purposes of government. Government is the institution through which a society ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Foundations of American Government


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  • Unit I
  • Foundations of American Government
  • Objectives
  • Define Government and examine the purposes of
    government.
  • Government is the institution through which a
    society makes and enforces its public policies.

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  • Purposes of Government
  • Form a more perfect union
  • Establish Justice.
  • Insure domestic tranquility
  • Provide for common defense
  • Promote general welfare
  • Secure blessings of liberty.
  • Every government has 3 basic powers
  • Legislative
  • Executive
  • Judicial

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  • Objective 2
  • Differentiate between state and national
    governments and recognize the essential features
    of a state.
  • State-
  • Body of people living in a defined territory,
    organized politically and with the power to make
    and enforce laws without the consent of a higher
    authority.

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  • Features of a state
  • Population
  • Territory
  • Sovereignty supreme and absolute authority
    within its boundaries.
  • Government

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  • Objective 3
  • Compare and contrast various theories of
    government, including Evolutionary, Force, Divine
    Right, and Social Contract.
  • Evolutionary Theory
  • Force Theory
  • Divine Right
  • Social Contract

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  • Objective 4
  • Understand the development of Social Contract
    theory as expressed by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan
    and John Locke in Two Treatises on Government.
  • Social Contract
  • Hobbes said that people were originally free in
    nature.

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  • No one was subject to a superior power.
  • People owned what they took by force.
  • No authority existed to protect people from
    others.
  • People agreed to create a state for protection.
  • People agreed, by contract, to give the state as
    much power as it needed to protect them.

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  • Social contract theory argues that the state
    arose out of the voluntary act of free people.
  • The state only exists to serve the will of the
    people and they are the sole source of political
    power.
  • People are free to give or withhold that power as
    they choose.

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  • Objective 5
  • Classify the types of government including
    autocracy (dictatorship and absolute monarchy),
    oligarchy, theocracy, anarchy, democracy (direct
    and representative)

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  • Autocracy
  • Government in which one person holds unlimited
    power.
  • Can be a dictatorship or an absolute monarchy.
  • Dictatorship
  • Exists where those who rule cannot be held
    responsible to the will of the people.
  • Oldest and most common form of government

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  • Kim Il Jong

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  • Momar Khadafy

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  • Oligarchy
  • Government in which power is held by a small,
    usually self-appointed elite.
  • Theocracy
  • Government ruled by religious leaders.
  • Iran

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  • Anarchy
  • No formal government.
  • Somalia
  • Democracy
  • Direct everyone is involved in decision making
    process. (Ancient Athens)
  • Representative people vote for representatives
    to represent them in their government.

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  • Objective 6
  • Recognize the structures of government to include
    unitary, confederate and federal systems and
    distinguish between presidential and
    parliamentary systems of government.

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  • Unitary Structure
  • Commonly called a Centralized Government.
  • All power belongs to a single centralized
    government agency.
  • The National Government creates local governments
    for convenience.
  • They only have powers given them by the National
    Government.

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  • Most governments in the world are Unitary.
  • Ex Great Britain
  • Parliament holds all power and local governments
    exist to relieve Parliament and aid it in
    governing regarding local matters.
  • Parliaments powers are limited by Britains
    constitution however.

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  • Federal Government Structure
  • Government in which powers are divided between a
    central government and local governments.
  • Both levels act upon people through their own
    laws, officials, and agencies.
  • A Constitution is the supreme law and cannot be
    changed unless all levels agree.

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  • U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, India, Switzerland
    and about 20 other countries.

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  • Confederate Government Structure
  • Alliance of independent states.
  • Usually a weak central government that only has
    powers the states give it.
  • Usually cant make laws that apply to individuals
    because states have this power.

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  • Confederations are rare.
  • Ex European Union, U.S. under the Articles of
    Confederation, Confederate States of America.
  • Presidential Government
  • Features a separation of powers between the
    Executive Branch and Legislative Branch.
  • Chief Executive is chosen separately from the
    legislature.

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  • All branches usually have separate powers spelled
    out in a constitution.
  • U.S. invented the Presidential form of
    government.
  • Most are located in the Western Hemisphere.

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  • Parliamentary Government
  • Executive is the Prime Minister and his/her
    cabinet.
  • They are members of Parliament.
  • Prime Minister is member of majority party in
    Parliament.
  • Cabinet members are selected by PM from members
    of Parliament.

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  • Prime Minister and Cabinet are known as The
    Government.
  • They stay in power as long as Parliament supports
    them. If they lose support of Parliament, they
    resign and Parliament selects another PM.
  • People vote for members of Parliament NOT for the
    PM.

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  • Majority of governments in world today are
    Parliamentary in form.
  • Parliamentary governments do not have deadlock
    between Executive and Legislature that
    Presidential governments can have since PM and
    the majority party of Parliament are the same.
  • Parliamentary systems do not have system of
    checks and balances however.

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  • Prime Minister of England, Gordon Brown

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  • Benjamin Disraeli PM 1874-1880

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  • Winston Churchill

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  • Margaret Thatcher
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