GOVERNMENT AND THE STATE  Why should we study government?  The govt. affects you in an uncountable number of ways  Protection  Education  Public health  Protect the environment  Civil Rights

 What is Government?  It is the institution through which a society makes and enforces it public policies.  Public Policy  Covers matters ranging from taxation, education, crime, and health care to transportation, the environment, civil rights, and working conditions.

GOVERNMENT Three types of powers  Legislative Power—The power to make laws and frame public policy.  Executive Power—The power to execute, enforce, and administer laws.  Judicial Power—The power to interpret laws, determine their meaning and to settle disputes that arise within a society.

 DICTATORSHIP  Those who rule cannot be held responsible to the will of the people.  Examples  DEMOCRACY  Supreme authority rests with the people. Majority…….  Do you think Democracy can/will work in Iraq?

POLITICS  Is the process by which a society decides how power and resources will be distributed within a society.  Enables a society to decide who will reap the benefits, and who will pay the costs, of its public policy.  Politics is the process the means by which a government is conducted.

THE STATE  A body of people living in a defined territory, organized politically and the power to make and enforce laws without the consent of higher authority.

FOUR CHARACTERISTIC OF A STATE (Nation/Country)  Population--Must have people (in order to exist)  Territory--Land (with recognized boundaries)

 Sovereignty--Supreme and absolute power (within its territory) Also decide its own foreign and domestic policies.  Government--Politically organized (Every state must have its own government) Recall a govt.. is an institution through which society makes and enforces its public policies.

POLITICAL IDEAS  Thomas Hobbs  English philosopher--Felt govt.. was necessary in order to avoid the “War of Every Man Against Man”.  Felt there would be continual fear and danger of violent death and life would be poor, nasty, brutish and short.

POLITICAL IDEAS (Origin of the State)  Force Theory--The state was born by force. (One person or small group claimed control over an area and forced all within it to submit to that person’s rule.  Evolutionary Theory--State developed naturally, out of the early family.

 Divine Right Theory--God created the state and that God had given those of royal birth a “divine right” to rule. The people were bound to obey their rulers as they would God.  Social Contact Theory--The state rose out of a voluntary act of free people. The state only exists to serve the will of the people, and they are the source of power.

PURPOSE OF THE GOVERNMENT?  Preamble of the constitution  Form a More Perfect Union