Chapter 1-People and Chapter 1-People and GovernmentGovernment

Chapter 1-People and Chapter 1-People and GovernmentGovernment

Principles of GovernmentPrinciples of Government

The State• Aristotle-Greek scholar in ancient (you

guessed it) Greece-one of 1st students of government

• He studied polis (ancient Greek city-state)

• State identifies political community that occupies definite territory with organized government-has power to make & enforce laws

Section 1 continued• US is one of 200 states in world today• Nation-any sizable group of people who

are united by common bonds of race, language, custom, tradition, & sometimes religion

• Nation-state-country in which territory of a place and the state coincide

Characteristics of State• Population• Territory• Sovereignty-state has supreme &

absolute authority within its territorial boundary

• Government

Purposes of Government

• Maintaining social order• Providing public services• Providing national security• Making economic decisions

Government5 Functions of a National Government

1. Maintain a National Defense Govt. protects its national sovereignty,

usually by maintaining armed services Nuclear age has sophisticated weapons U.S. spends over $300 billion/year on

defense

Government2. Provide public services

Aka public goods (goods that everyone shares)

Schools, libraries, highways, public parks, clean air and water

Provided for those not able to access privately owned services (i.e. private schools)

Government3. Preserve Order

Govt. may resort to extreme measures to restore order when people protest in large numbers

1970: Kent State 1992: LA Riots

Government4. Socialize the

Young Most modern

govts. pay for education and use it to instill values among the young

5. Collect Taxes– Used to pay for the

public goods and services

– Approx. 1 out of every 3 dollars earned by American citizen is used to pay for national, state, and local taxes

Government• Govt. functions = weighty decisions by

political leadersHow much should we spend on national

defense as opposed to education?How high should taxes for Medicare and SS

be?

The way we answer those questions is through politics

Classification by Geographic Distribution of Power

Unitary Government• A unitary

government has all powers held by a single, central agency.

Confederate Government

• A confederation is an alliance of independent states.

Federal Government• A federal government

is one in which the powers of government are divided between a central government and several local governments.

• An authority superior to both the central and local governments makes this division of power on a geographic basis.

Constitution• - a plan that provides the rules for

government

Constitution• Three Purposes:• 1) Sets out ideal• 2) establishes basic structure of

government• 3)provides supreme law of the

land

GovernmentGovernment Types

1. Autocracy Absolute Monarchy, Constitutional Monarchy,

Dictatorship Unitary System Queen, King, Dictator, King or Queen w/leg.body AM: Saudi Arabia, Qutar, Bhutan, Swaziland CM: England, Netherlands, Denmark, Nepal,

Sweden Dict: Cuba, North Korea

Two Types• Totalitarian Dictatorship• - all authority is in the hands of

the state.

• Monarchy- king, queen, or emperor

GovernmentConstitutional

Monarch:• Shares govt. powers with

elected legislatures or serve as ceremonial leaders

Queen Elizabeth II (Great Britain)

Absolute Monarch:• Has complete and

unlimited power to rule

King Fahd(Saudi Arabia)

GovernmentDictators

Govt. not responsible to the people and people lack the power to limit their rulers

Fidel Castro (Cuba)

Kim Jong(N.Korea)

GovernmentGovernment Types

2. Oligarchy Unitary Small group rules Membership based on wealth, lineage,

military power, religion China

GovernmentGovernment Types

3. Democracy Federal Direct Democracy – people rule directly

Citizens come together to discuss and pass laws, and select rulers (most turn to mob rule)

Indirect Democracy (Representative) – people rule through elected representatives

• Aka republic

DD: Switzerland has mixture of DD and ID ID: U.S., Canada, Australia, Italy

What is the difference between Presidential and Parliamentary

Governments?

Section 2-Formation of Government

• Unitary system-gives all key power to the national or central government

• Federal system-divides powers of government between national government and state or provincial governments (sound familiar?)

• Confederacy-loose union of independent states (should also sound familiar-blast from the past!)

Section 2• Constitution-plan that provides the

rules for government; does several things-1)sets out ideals that people bound by constitution believe in & share 2)establishes basic structure of government-defines government’s powers & duties 3)provides supreme law for country

Section 2• Constitutional government-government in

which a constitution has authority to place clearly recognized limits on powers of those who govern

• Preamble-intro to Constitution; states major goals of American government

• Look at page 14 starting with quotations-Break down the preamble line by line without using their words! Put this in your notebook! We will discuss together.

Section 2• Constitutional law-interpretation

and application of the constitution• Politics-conduct and policies of

government• Industrialized nations-page 14• Developing nations-page 14

Types of Government-Section 3

• Autocracy-oldest, most common forms of government; power and authority to rule in hands of single individual

• Totalitarian dictatorship-type of autocracy; ideas of single leader maintaining power

Section 3• Monarchy-autocratic government

where king, queen, or emperor exercises supreme powers of government

• Absolute monarchs-complete & unlimited power to rule people (King of Saudi Arabia)

Section 3• Constitutional monarchs-share

governmental powers with elected legislatures (Great Britain, Sweden, Japan, Netherlands)

• Oligarchy-system of government in which a small group holds power (hint: Think about oligopoly in econ!)

Section 3• Democracy-system of government in

which rule is by the people• Term democracy comes from Greek

demos-”the people” kratia-”rule”• People rule; key idea is that the people

hold sovereign power (think back to honest Abe & what he described democracy as “government of the people, by the people, & for the people.”

Section 3• Direct democracy-people govern

themselves by voting on issues individually as citizens (exists only in very small societies where citizens are able to meet regularly to discuss issues; New England town meetings & cantons of Switzerland)

Section 3• Representative democracy-people

elect representatives and give them responsibility & power to make laws and conduct government

• Republic-voters are source of gov’t. authority

Characteristics of Democracy

• Individual liberty• Majority rule with minority rights• Free elections• Competing political parties

Soil of Democracy• Active citizen participation• Favorable economy• Widespread education• Strong civil society• Social consensus

Create a Preamble for the Class

• Have fun creating a class preamble