Chapter 1 Principles of Government

Section 1--Objectives:

• • • • Define government and the basic powers every government holds.

Describe the four defining characteristics of the state.

Identify four theories that attempt to explain the origin of the state.

Understand the purpose of government in the United States and other countries.

Section 1--Why It Matters:

• Here, Senator Kassebaum tells us that a democracy—which insists on the importance of each and every person and, at the same time, insists on the equality of all persons— inevitably produces a political climate “both frustrating and invigorating.”

Section 1--Political Dictionary

• • • • • Government Public policy Legislative power Executive power Judicial power • • • • • Constitution Dictatorship Democracy State Sovereign

Section 1—Government and the State • What is Government?

– How society makes and enforces public policies.

• Taxation • Defense • Education • Crime • Health

Section 1—Government and the State • What is Government? (cont.) – All governments exercise 3 kinds of power.

• Legislative • Executive • Judicial – Can take many organizational forms • Single—dictatorship • All the people—democracy

Section 1—Government and the State • What is Government? (cont.) – Old, basic institution – “Man is by nature a political animal”—Aristotle – “Polis”—people – Politics and government do not mean the same thing.

– Politics is a process

Section 1—Government and the State • The State – “A body of people”—more than 190 now – “Nation” really means ethnic grouping – “Country” is a geographic term – Population • Can vary widely—San Marino 27,000, China 1.3 billion & USA 300 million • Homogeneous vs. diversified – Language, race, religion, ethnic background, history

Section 1—Government and the State • The State (cont.) – Territory—land, a requirement of a “state.” – Sovereignty—supreme and absolute power within its territory.

• NOTE—US “states” are not “states” but divisions because they are not “sovereign.

– Government—natural order • Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)—”the war of every man against every man.” “Without government. . . There would be continual fear and danger of violent death and life [would be] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

Section 1—Government and the State • Major Political Ideas – Four theories about the origin of government • The Force Theory—power/conquest • The Evolutionary Theory—extension of the family • The Divine Right Theory—ordained by god • The Social Contract – Thomas Hobbes – James Harrington (1611-1677) – John Locke (1632-1704) – Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) – Theory behind the US Constitution

Section 1—Government and the State • The Purpose of Government – Preamble of the US Constitution •

“We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure the domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

– – Articles of Confederation—1781 Constitution--1787

Section 1—Government and the State • The Purpose of Government (cont.) – Establish Justice—law must be reasonable, fair and impartial.

– Insure Domestic Tranquility—order and peace – Provide for the Common Defense – Promote the General Welfare—education, water, air, roads, etc.

– Secure the Blessings of Liberty

Section 1—Government and the State • John Locke---Second Treatise of Government

Section 2--Objectives:

• • • • Classify governments according to three sets of characteristics.

Define systems of government based on who can participate.

Identify different ways that power can be distributed, geographically, within a state.

Describe a government by how power is distributed between the executive and legislative branch.

Section 2--Why It Matters:

• Governments come in many different forms— democratic or dictatorial, unitary or federal or confederate, presidential or parliamentary. But, whatever its form, government has an impact on nearly every moment and nearly every aspect of your life.

Section 2--Political Dictionary:

• • • • • • • • Autocracy Oligarchy Unitary government Federal government Division of powers Confederation Presidential government Parliamentary government

Section 2—Forms of Government • • Classifying Governments Who Can Participate – Democracy • Direct—all participate • Indirect—representative – Dictatorship • • Autocracy—single person Oligarchy—small elite

Section 2—Forms of Government • Geographic Distribution of Power – Unitary—single, highly centralized • Great Britain – Federal government—division of powers • United States, Canada, Mexico, India, Germany – Confederate government—”alliance” of independent states.

• EU, early US, Confederacy

Section 2—Forms of Government • Relationship Between Legislative and Executive Bodies.

– Presidential Government • Independent selection of president • Checks and balances – Parliamentary Government • Leader chosen is a member of parliament • Sometimes there is also a weak figurehead

Section 3--Objectives:

• • • Understand the foundations of democracy.

Analyze the connections between democracy and the free enterprise system.

Identify the role of the Internet in a democracy.

Section 3—Why It Matters:

• Democracy insists on the fundamental importance of each and every individual. The free enterprise system is a natural counterpart to democracy—for it, too, is built on the concept of individualism.

Section 3—Political Dictionary:

• • • • Compromise Free enterprise system Law of supply and demand Mixed economy

• Section 3—Basic Concepts of Democracy Foundations – Churchill: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

Section 3—Basic Concepts of Democracy • Foundations (cont.) – American democracy rests on these basic notions: • A recognition of the fundamental worth and dignity of every person.

• • • A respect for the equality of all persons.

A faith in majority rule and an insistence upon minority rights.

An acceptance of the necessity of compromise, and • An insistence upon the widest possible degree of individual freedom.

• Section 3—Basic Concepts of Democracy Foundations (cont.) – Worth of the Individual – Equality of All Persons • Equality of Opportunity • Equality Before the Law – Majority Rule, Minority Rights • Not “best or right” but “satisfactory” solutions – Necessity of Compromise

• Section 3—Basic Concepts of Democracy Foundations (cont.) – Individual Freedom—not “complete” freedom • Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.” • President John F. Kennedy: “The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”

Section 3—Basic Concepts of Democracy • Democracy and the Free Enterprise System – Often called Capitalism – Law of Supply and Demand—scarcity driven – Government and the Free Enterprise System • Mixed economy • Abraham Lincoln: “The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves—in their separate, and individual capacities.”

• Section 3—Basic Concepts of Democracy Democracy and the Internet – Abundance of data – 180 million participants – Rapid movement of ideas – OFTEN inaccurate.