Transcript Unit 1: Foundations of American Government

Unit 1: Foundations
of American
Government
Part I: Principles of Government
Part II: Origins of American Govt
Government Defined (Obj.1)
• What is government?
• The institution through which a
society makes and enforces its
public policies.
• Public policies = all of the things that
the government decides to do.
Public Policies - Examples
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Taxation – How much $$ should each person contribute?
Defense – How to keep us safe
Education – Public education is funded by the state
Crime – How to stop it, how to punish it, how to define it
Health care - regulating doctors and insurance companies,
funding clinics, regulating drugs
Transportation – Building/maintaining roads, public trans.
Environment – protecting natural resources, regulating
pollution, etc.
Civil rights – Protecting us from discrimination and
persecution
What else can you think of?
Purposes of Government
Purposes of Government…
1. “Form a more perfect Union” – bind the American people; in
union there is strength
2. “Establish Justice” – Make laws that are reasonable, fair, and
impartial
3. “Insure domestic tranquility“ – Ensure peace and order
4. “Provide for the common defense” – Defend the nation
against foreign enemies
5. “Promote the general welfare” – Provide services that
benefit most people
6. “Secure the blessings of liberty” – Ensure that all citizens
enjoy freedom
3 Basic Powers of Government
1. Legislative Power: power to make the laws and frame public
policy
2. Executive Power: power to execute (carry out), enforce, and
administer laws
3. Judicial Power: power to interpret the laws, determine their
meaning, and settle legal disputes that arise in society.
These powers are usually laid out in the country’s constitution,
which is a document that lays out the country’s fundamental
principles, structures, and processes of government.
The Sovereign State (Obj. 2)
• State: a body of people, living in a defined
territory, organized politically (with a
government), and with the power to make
and enforce law without the consent of
any higher authority
• The United States of America is a state.
• There are 4 characteristics of a state.
4 Characteristics of a state
1. Population
• Doesn’t matter how many people, but there must be people
• E.g. Island nation of Nauru only has about 9, 300 inhabitants;
China is the most populous state with about 1.4 billion people
2. Territory
• Again, doesn’t matter how much. Nauru is about 8.1 square miles
• Russia is the largest state, stretching about 6.6 million sq miles
3. Sovereignty
• The quality of having supreme, absolute power over a territory
and the ability to decide policies without answering to a higher
authority
4. Government
• Political organization. Each state can choose its own form of govt
The origin of the state: 4 Theories
(Obj. 3)
1. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY – the state developed
naturally out of early families
• 1st stage – the primitive family, with one person
serving as the head of the household, or “state”
• 2nd stage – Clan(network of related families)
• 3rd stage – Tribe (larger clan, may contain several
bloodlines)
• 4th stage – State is born when tribes stop being
nomadic, settle in an area, and begin to farm
Origins of the state
2. Force Theory
One person or small
group claimed
control of an area
and forced all in that
area to submit to
that person or
group’s rule
Origins of the state
3. Divine Right Theory
• God created the state
and gave those of
royal birth a “divine
right” to rule.
• Obey your ruler as
you would God
• Opposing the king
would be treason
AND a mortal sin
Divine Right, Cont.
Louis XIV of France
James I of England
Origins of the State
4. Social Contract Theory
• Most significant theory to the American political
system
• According to Thomas Hobbes, human life would
be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”
without law and order.
• Prior to the creation of the state….
• People owned what they took by force
• No authority existed to protect anyone
• No one was subject to any superior power
Social Contract Theory (Obj. 4)
• Contract – agreement between 2 or more parties
• Social Contract = agreement among individuals in a
society to abide by common rules
• People agreed to give up some power to the State in
exchange for protection
• The state arose out of the voluntary will of the people
• The state exists to serve the will of the people
• We can take or give as much power to the state as we want
• How does this differ from the Divine Right Theory?
• How much power do the people have in the US today?
Social Contract Theorists
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
Social Contract Theorists, Cont.
John Locke (1632-1704)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1788
Forms of Government (Obj. 5)
• No two governments or
states are exactly alike,
but political scientists
sort them based on…
• Types – Who rules and
participates in
government
• Systems – How power is
distributed
• Geographically
• Between the executive and
legislative branches
Types of Government
1. Autocracy
• Government in which
a single person holds
unlimited power
• 2 types:
1. Dictatorship:
• exists where those
who rule cannot be
held responsible to the
will of the people
• oldest, most common
form of government
2. Absolute Monarchy
Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of
Germany from 1933-1945
Autocracy (continued)
• Other famous
dictatorships:
Benito Mussolini

Joseph Stalin
• Fascist Italy (19221943)
• Soviet Union (19171989)
• People’s Republic of
China (1949-1976)
Mao Tse Tung 
2. Oligarchy
3. Theocracy
• Literally, “rule by few”
• Government that is
ruled by a small,
usually self-appointed
group of elites
• These “few” are
usually distinguished
by royalty, family ties,
corporate/military
connections, or race
• Government ruled by
religious leaders
• State is considered to
be governed by God
• Modern Example: Iran
4. Anarchy
• No formal
government
• Example – Somalia
• Run by militias and
gangs
• Somali pirates
5. Democracy
Direct
• Everyone is involved
in the decision
making process
• Ex: Ancient Greece
• Does not exist at the
national level
anywhere in the
world today
Representative
• People vote for
representatives to
represent them in
government
• Government by
popular consent
• Ex: United States
Systems of Government (Obj.6)
Part I: Geographic Systems
In every system of government, the power to govern is
located in one or more places geographically.
1. Unitary System of
Government
• AKA Centralized Government
• All power belongs to a single, central (national)
government agency
• National govt can take or give power to smaller,
local governments as it chooses
• Power is not shared between national govt and
local governments
• Most governments in the world are unitary
• Example: Great Britain
Map of all Unitary States in the world (in blue)
Unitary Government Examples
Great Britain
• Governing body =
Parliament
• Parliament holds all
the power, but has
local govts. to help
out with small, local
issues
• Parliament is still
bound by Britain’s
constitution
2. Federal System of
Government
• Powers are divided
between a central
(national) government
and smaller, local
governments
• Both levels have their
own laws, officials, and
agencies
• There is a higher
authority that makes the
division of powers
between the central and
local governments
Example: the U.S.
• Central (National)
govt controls some
things
• 50 states control
other things
• The Federal Govt
cannot interfere with
states’ powers
• Our Constitution is
the highest authority
3. Confederate System of
Government
• Confederation: a loose alliance (friendship) of
independent states
• Weak central government that only has powers the
states give to it (usually just defense and foreign trade)
• Central govt doesn’t usually make laws that apply to
individual people because the states have this power
• Confederations are very rare
• Examples:
• The US Government under the Articles of
Confederation
• The Confederate States of America (South during the
Civil War)
Systems Part II:
Distribution of power between
branches
• Governments can also be grouped
based on the relationship between
the executive and legislative
branches.
• 2 Types: Presidential and
Parliamentary
Presidential System
• Characteristics:
• Separation of powers between executive branch and legislative
branch
• Chief Executive (President) is…
• Chosen separately from the legislature
• Holds office for a fixed term
• Has some powers that are not under the direct control of the
legislature
• Separation of powers are spelled out in the country’s constitution
• The United States invented the presidential system of
government
• Most presidential governments are in the Western
Hemisphere
Parliamentary System
• Characteristics:
• Executive branch and Legislative branch are intertwined
• Executive branch = The Prime Minister (PM) and his/her cabinet
(close group of advisors)
• Legislative body = Parliament
• The PM is the leader of the majority party in Parliament
• The PM chooses his/her cabinet directly from members of
Parliament
• People vote for members of Parliament. They do NOT vote on
the Prime Minister.
• Therefore, the executive is chosen by the legislature, is part of
the legislature, and is subject to direct control by the legislature
Parliamentary System (Cont.)
• The PM and his/her cabinet are often called “the government”
• The government stays in power as long as Parliament supports
them
• If Parliament defeats the PM/cabinet on an important matter, the
government receives a “vote of no confidence”
• “Vote of no confidence” means the PM/cabinet must resign from
office
• Then, a new government must be formed, 1 of 2 ways:
• Parliament chooses a new PM
• A general election is held where the people vote on all seats of
Parliament. The new Parliament then picks a new PM
Parliamentary System (Cont.)
• Most governments in the world are parliamentary in
structure
• Advantages
• Faster and easier to pass laws
• Avoids ongoing conflict between executive and
legislative branches or between different political
parties
• Disadvantages
• No/less checks and balances
• PM is not elected directly by the people
Example: United Kingdom
• 2010 – Parliament is
dissolved, general
election held
• Election resulted in a
hung Parliament (no
majority party)
• Previous PM Gordon
Brown resigned, and
Parliament chose David
Cameron as PM
• PM Cameron chose his
cabinet, including Nick
Clegg, his deputy PM
Current PM: David Cameron