1. 1. Are people at their core basically good or bad?
2. What is government, and why is it needed?
3. What are some things government
should do? Why?
4. What are some things government
should NOT do? Why?

2. What is the big Tradeoff when it comes to government?
Effectiveness v. Liberty
Or, another way to say it is
Security v. Freedom

3. Forms of Government— Key questions 1. What is a democracy?
2. How can government power be divided up
geographically?
3. What is the relationship between the legislative
and executive branches in a government?

4. 1. What is a democracy?

5. Old School a.k.a the Founding Fathers: Democracy v. Republic
Democracy = pure democracy; the
public participates directly in making
of public policy
Republic = people elect officials
to represent them in making
decisions and laws

6. Modern Understanding of Democracy
Constitutional democracy
1) rule by majority through elections
2) limits on the power of the majority
through guarantees of citizens’ rights
Today, the terms democracy, republic, representative
democracy, constitutional democracy are often used
interchangeably

7. 2. How can government
power be divided up
geographically?

8. Unitary (Central) System
Unitary (Central) System
Strong central (national) government
Local government units are only extensions of
central govt
165/193 UN
Member States
have unitary
governments

11. Federal System (federalism)
Central (national) government has substantial powers
Individual member state governments have separate
substantial powers

12. Confederation a group of states LOOSELY tied together
central govt has very little power
individual states each have significant power

13. Pros & Cons of
Unitary v.
Federal System v.
Confederate systems

14. 3. What is the relationship between the legislative
and executive branches in a government?

15. Reminder: Branches of Government
Legislative Branch—
makes the laws
Executive Branch—
carries out laws made by legislative branch
Judicial branch—
interprets the law (decides what the law means)

16. --the executive branch is an extension of the legislative branch
Parliamentary System
--the executive branch is an extension of the legislative branch
voters elect district representatives to serve them
in parliament
the majority party in parliament then selects a
person from their party to be prime minister to
head the executive branch

17. British House of Commons
Labor Party—Minority Party
Conservative Party—Majority Party
Prime Minister—a member of
Parliament, selected by the majority
party to run the executive branch
British House of Commons

18. Prime Ministers Questions
Prime Ministers Questions

19. Very distinct executive and legislative branches
Presidential System—
Very distinct executive and legislative branches
voters SEPARATELY elect both a president to head executive branch
and representatives to the
legislative branch (Congress)
Not a member of Congress

20. Pros & Cons of
Parliamentary v.
Presidential
System