Chapter 1-People and Government Principles of Government

The State Aristotle-Greek scholar in ancient (you guessed it) Greece-one of 1 st 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

Government 5 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

Government 2. 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)

Government 3. Preserve Order  Govt. may resort to extreme measures to restore order when people protest in large numbers  1970: Kent State  1992: LA Riots

Government 4. 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 leaders  How 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

Government Government 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

Government Constitutional 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)

Government Dictators  Govt. not responsible to the people and people lack the power to limit their rulers Fidel Castro (Cuba) Kim Jong (N.Korea)

Government Government Types 2.Oligarchy  Unitary  Small group rules  Membership based on wealth, lineage, military power, religion  China

Government Government 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