CHAPTER 1 PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT CH. 1 GOVERNMENT AND THE STATE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

WHAT IS GOVERNMENT?  GOVERNMENT—institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies  PUBLIC POLICIES—all those things a government decides to do  Governments must have power to make and carry out public policy  Three Basic kinds of power:  1) legislative power—power to make laws and frame public policies  2) executive power—power to execute, enforce, and administer laws  3) judicial power—power to interpret laws, determine the meaning of laws, settle disputes

 CONSTITUTION—body of fundamental laws setting out principles, structures, and processes of a government  DICTATORSHIP—power held by a single person  DEMOCRACY—power held by a majority of the people  Earliest forms of government date from 6 th Century B.C. Egypt  2,300 years ago—Greek philosopher Aristotle observed that “man is by nature a political animal”  POLITICS—process is the process by which a society decides how power and resources will be distributed  Government is an institution, while politics is a process.

THE STATE  What is the STATE?  --a body of people  --living in a defined territory  --organized politically (that is, with a government)  --the power to make and enforce laws without the consent of any higher authority  More than 190 states in the world today  States vary greatly in size, military power, natural resources, and economic importance

 Each state possesses four characteristics:  1) population  2) territory  3) sovereignty  4) government  STATE—legal entity, NATION—ethnic term, COUNTRY— geographic term  POPULATION  Size of population has nothing to do with the existence of a state  Smallest—San Marino 30,000 vs. Largest—China 1.3 billion

 TERRITORY  State must have land with known and recognized boundaries  Smallest—San Marino 24 sq. miles vs. largest— Russia 6.6 million sq. miles  SOVEREIGNTY  SOVEREIGN—supreme and absolute within its borders  States can determine their own government

 GOVERNMENT  Government is necessary to avoid what English philosopher Thomas Hobbes ( ) called “the war of every man against every man.”  Without government there would be “continual fear and danger of violent death and life…”— Hobbes  Number of examples where government have disappeared—Lebanon, Bosnia, Somalia, etc.—life became “nasty, brutish, and short.”

MAJOR POLITICAL IDEAS  THE FORCE THEORY—state was born of force  One person or a small group claimed control over an area and forced all within it to submit to that person’s or group’s rule.  THE EVOLUTIONARY THEORY—state developed naturally out of the early family  Primitive family—one person was the leader  Family  network of families (clan)  tribe  Tribe turned to agriculture and gave up being a nomad—the state was born

 THE DIVINE RIGHT THEORY—God created the state and that God had given those of royal birth a “divine right” to rule.  People were bound to obey their ruler like they would obey God  Opposition to “divine right” was both treason and mortal sin  THE SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY—the state arose out of a voluntary act of free people  People within a given area agreed to give up to the state as much power as was needed to promote the safety and well-being of all  Members of the state create a government to exercise the powers they had voluntarily given to the state.

 State exists only to serve the will of the people  The Declaration of Independence justified its revolution through the social contract theory.

THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT  Preamble to the Constitution defines the purpose of the system of government  FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION  Create a better form of government to improve upon the Articles of Confederation  The belief is that in union there is strength  ESTABLISH JUSTICE  The law, in both its content and its administration, must be reasonable, fair, and impartial  “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”--MLK

 INSURE DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY  Prevent ANARCHY—without government, law, order  Ex.—Somalia—located in the eastern tip of Africa, has not had a functioning government for many years; rival warlords control different parts of the country  PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENSE  Defend the nation against foreign enemies  The security of the USA is the most important item in the Constitution

PPROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE GGovernment serves its citizens SServants of the citizens—public schools, air quality, water quality, etc. SSECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY NNation founded by those who loved liberty and prized it above all earthly possessions BBoth the federal and state constitutions set out many guarantees of rights and liberty for the individual TTHE END