Chapter One – People & Government



Chapter One – People & Government

Section 1 – The Principles of Government

1. Government is necessary but . . .

A. What is the proper function of government?

B. What form of government serves best?

C. Where or why did government originate?

2. The State

A. Aristotle

1) Scholar in ancient Greece.

2) One of the first students of government.

3) “Polis” – The ancient Greek city-state.

4) Terms such as politics, democracy, and republic originated in ancient Greece or Rome.

B. State

1) Country and state have basically the same meaning.

2) “A political community that occupies a definite territory and has an organized government with the power to make and enforce laws without approval form any higher authority.”

C. Nation

1) Often used to describe an independent state or country.

2) “ Any sizable group of people who are united by common bonds of race, language, custom, tradition, and sometimes, religion.”

3) Usually the territorial boundaries of modern nation states and those of nations are the same.

4) Example – France.

A) Although not all citizen of France are of French descent, the territories of both the nation of France and the state of France coincide.

B) Nation-state is a term used to describe a country/nation such as France.

5) Not all groups that consider themselves to be nations have their own states.

A) Quebec in Canada.

B) In Africa, the populations of some national groups are divided among several African states due to the artificial boundaries established during the colonial era.

3. Essential Features of a State

A. Four essential features: Population, Territory, Sovereignty, and Government.

B. Population

1) Most obvious essential for a state.

2) The nature of a state’s population affects its stability.

3) States where the population shares a general political and social consensus, or agreement about basic beliefs, have the most stable governments.

4) Mobility – affects the political organization of a state.

a) In the United States, millions of Americans change residences each year.

b) As a result, political power is slowly changing and being modified.

C. Territory

1) A state has established boundaries.

2) The exact location or shape of political boundaries is often a source of conflict among states.

3) Territorial boundaries may change as a result of war, negotiations, or purchase.

D. Sovereignty

1) Key characteristic of a state.

2) Political Sovereignty – The state has the supreme and absolute authority within its territorial boundaries.

3) It has complete independence, and complete power to make laws, shape foreign policy, and determine its own course of action.

4) In theory, no state has the right to interfere with the internal affairs of another state.

E. Government

1) Every state has some form of government.

2) Government – The institution through which the state maintains social order, provides public services, and enforces decisions that are binding on all people living within the state.

4. Theories on the Origin of the State

A. Evolutionary Theory

1) Belief that the state evolved from the basic family unit.

2) The head of the primitive family was the authority that served as the government.

3) As large, extended families grew, there was a greater need for more organization which caused the birth of government.

B. Force Theory

1) The belief that government emerged when all the people of an area were brought under the authority of one person or a group.

C. Divine Right Theory

1) The notion that a god or gods have chosen certain people to rule.

2) People believed that the state was created by God, and those who were born to royalty were hosen by God to govern.

3) To oppose the monarch was to oppose God and was considered both treason and sin.

D. Social Contract Theory

1) Beginning in the 1600s, Europeans challenged the rule of sovereigns who ruled by divine right.

2) The birth of the Social Contract Theory.

A) Thomas Hobbes (English philosopher)

1) In a state of nature, no government existed.

2) Without an authority to protect people from one another, life was nasty, brutish, and short.

3) By contract, people surrendered to the state the power needed to maintain order.

4) The state, in turn, agreed to protect its citizens.

5) Hobbes believed that people did not have the right to break this agreement.

B) John Locke (English philosopher)

1) Took the social contract a step further.

2) Believed that the people were naturally endowed with the right of life, liberty, and property.

3) To preserve their rights, the people had the right to break the contract (Right of Revolution).

5. The Purposes of Government

A. Today governments serve several major purposes for the state:

1) To maintain social order.

2) To provide public services.

3) To provide for national security and a common defense.

4) To provide for and control the economic system.

B. In carrying out these tasks, governments must make decisions that are binding on all citizens of the state.

C. Government has the authority to require all individuals to obey these decisions and the power to punish those who do not obey them.

D. Governments derive their authority from two sources – their legitimacy and their ability to use coercive force.

1) Legitimacy – the willingness of citizens to obey the government.

A) In democratic countries legitimacy is based on the consent of the people.

B) If elected officials fail to respond to the interest of the people they can be voted out of office.

C) People entrust their government with power.

2) Coercive Force

A) The second source of government authority.

B) Derives from the police, judicial, and military institutions of government.

C) Government can force people to pay taxes and can punish offenders by fines or imprisonment.

E. Maintaining Social Order

1) According to the social contract theory, people need government to maintain social order because they have not yet discovered a way to live in groups without conflict.

2) Governments provide ways of resolving conflicts among group members, helping to maintain social order.

3) Governments have the power to make and enforce laws and can require people to do things they might do voluntarily.

4) Governments provide structures such as courts to help people resolve disagreements in an orderly manner.

5) Government controls and contains conflict between people by placing limits on what individuals are permitted to do.

6) Governments provide a group with law and order.

F. Providing Public Services

1) One of the important purposes of government is to provide essential services that make community life possible and promote the general welfare.

2) Government undertakes projects that individuals would or could not do on their own.

3) Provides essential serve by making and enforcing laws that promote public health and safety.

G. Providing National Security

1) Protecting citizens from attacks and threats.

2) Protecting its national security is a major concern of each sovereign state.

3) In additional to providing national defense, governments also handle normal relations with other nations.

4) Provides economic security by enacting trade agreements with other countries.

H. Making Economic Decisions

1) No country provides its citizens with everything they need or desire.

2) Government often intervene to help deal with the problems of material scarcity to prevent conflicts.

3) Pass laws that shape the economic environment of the nation.

4) Make choices that distribute benefits and public services among citizens.

5) Governments usually try to stimulate economic growth and stability through controlling inflation, encouraging trade, and regulating the development of natural resources.

Section 2 – The Formation of Governments

1. Overview

A. The government of each nation has unique characteristics derived from how that nation developed.

B. In order to carry out their functions, governments are organized in a variety of ways.

C. Most large countries have several different levels of government.

D. These usually include a central or national government as well as the governments of smaller divisions within the country such as provinces, states, counties, cities, towns, and villages.

2. Government Systems

A. Unitary System

1) Gives all key powers to the national or central government.

2) It does not mean that only one level of government exists.

3) It means that the central government has the power to create state, provincial, or other local governments and may give them limited sovereignty.

4) Great Britain, Italy, and France developed unitary governments when they emerged from smaller kingdom.

B. Federal System

1) Divides the powers of government between the national government and state or provincial governments.

2) Each level of government has sovereignty in some areas.

3) The United States developed a federal system after the thirteen colonies became states.

4) Other nations with a federal system include Canada, Switzerland, Mexico, Australia, India, and Russia.

C. Confederacy

1) A loose union of independent states.

2) Weak central government, powerful independent states.

3) The United States was originally governed as a confederacy under the Article of Confederation.

3. Constitutions and Government

A. Constitution

1) A plan that provides the rules for government.

2) A constitution serves several purposes:

A) It sets out ideals that the people bound by the constitution believe in and share.

B) It establishes the basic structure of government and defines the government’s power and duties.

C) It provides the supreme law for the country.

3) Constitutions provide rules that shape the actions of government and politics.

4) Constitutions may be written or unwritten (most are written).

5) The U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution (1787).

6) All governments have a constitution in the sense that they have some plan for organization and operating the government.

7) Constitutional Government

A) A government in which a constitution in which a constitution has authority to place clearly recognized limits on the powers of those who govern.

B) Often referred to as “limited government”.

B. Incomplete Guides

1) Constitutions themselves are important but incomplete guides to how a country is actually governed.

2) They are incomplete for two reasons:

A) No written constitution by itself can possibly spell out all the laws, customs, and ideas that grow up around the document itself.

B) A constitution does not always reflect the actual practice of government in a country. (Example - Chinese constitution).

C. A Statement of Goals

1) Most constitutions contain a statement that sets forth the goals and purposes to be served by the government.

2) Preamble – the name given to this statement.

D. A Framework for Government

1) The main body of a constitution sets out the plan for government.

2) In federal states, such as the United States, the constitution also describes the relationship between the national and state governments.

3) Most written constitutions also describe the procedure for amending the constitution.

4) Articles and Sections

A) Parts of the main body of the constitution is usually subdivided into these two categories.

B) U.S. Constitution has 7 Articles containing 21 Sections.

E. The Highest Law

1) Constitutions provide the supreme law for states.

2) Normally accepted as a superior, morally binding force.

3) Draws its authority from the people or from a special assembly chosen by the people to create the constitution.

4) Constitutional Law

A) Involves the interpretation and application of the constitution.

B) Primarily concerns defining the extent and limits of government power and the rights of citizens.

4. Politics and Government

A. Overview

1) Politics – The effort to control or influence the conduct and policies of government.

2) The Constitution did not prevent the development of politics because politics and government are closely related.

B. Seeking Government Benefits

1) Participation in politics arises because people realize that government has the potential to influence their lives in many ways.

2) In a large, diverse nation like the United States, there is a continual struggle over what benefits and services government should provide, how much they should cost, and who should pay for them.

3) Through politics, individuals and groups seek to maximize the benefits they get from government while they try to reduce the costs of these benefits.

4) Through politics, people also seek to use government to turn their values and beliefs into public policy.

C. Importance of Politics

1) Through politics, conflicts in society are managed.

2) Provides a peaceful way for people to compete with one another.

D. Special Interest

1) The Constitution says that government should promote the general welfare.

2) The Framers believed government should operate in the interests of all the people, not favoring any special group or persons.

3) The Framers feared special interest would undermine the new government.

4) Some people equate politics with bribery or corruption.

5) They believe the general welfare may be sacrificed to the desires of a special-interest group.

5. Governing in a Complex World.

A. Major Inequalities Among States

1) Because of the great inequalities among countries, the world today is full of contrasts.

2) Industrial Nations

A) Roughly 21 countries in the world fall into this category.

B) Industrialized nation have generally large industries and advanced technology that provide a more comfortable way of life than developing nations do.

C) Examples of industrialized nations include the United States, Canada, Australia, and Great Britain.

3) Developing Nations

A) Nations that are only beginning to develop industrially.

B) Well over 100 countries fall into this category.

C) In the poorest countries, starvation, disease, and political turmoil is a way of life.

D) Examples of developing nations are found in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

B. Growing Interdependence

1) Although each state is sovereign, nations today exist in a world of global interdependence.

2) Our lives can be directly impacted not only by the decisions of foreign governments but also by the combined effect of billions of individual choices made by people across the world.

3) Global interdependence is increasing due to growing industrialization and rapid technological advances in manufacturing, transportation, and telecommunications.

4) Global interdependence is affecting highly developed as well as developing states.

C. Non-state International Groups

1) Terrorist groups / Quasi-military organizations

A) Al-Queda

B) 9/11 Attacks

2) National Liberation Organizations.

A) Aim to establish an independent state for a particular ethnic or religious group.

B) Irish Republican Army (IRA), Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)

3) Multinational Corporations

A) Huge companies with offices and factories in many countries.

B) “Stateless” Corporations – When a corporation is so international in ownership, management, workforce, and areas of operations that it is impossible to identify them with any single nation.

4) International Organizations

A) Example – World Trade Organization (WTO)

i) Seeks to improve economic development around the world.

ii) Carry out their activities on a global scale.

B) Composed of many nations working together for common goals.

C) Multinational corporations influence international politics and the internal decisions of their host countries.

D) Noted International Organizations

i) General Motors

ii) ATT

iii) British Petroleum

Section 3 – Types of Governments

1. Overview

A. The United States has established a representative democracy that serves as a model for government and inspires people from around the world.

B. Today democracies outnumber all other forms of government.

C. Over the centuries, people have organized their governments in many different ways.

2. Major Types of Governments

A. Overview

B. Governments can be classified in many wasys.

C. Aristotelian method – Who governs the state?

D. Under this system of classification, all governments belong to one of three major groups:

1) Autocracy – rule by one person.

2) Oligarchy – rule by a few persons.

3) Democracy – rule by many persons.

E. Autocracy

1) Any system of government in which the power and authority to rule are in the hands of a single individual is an autocracy.

2) The oldest and most common forms of governments.

3) Historically, most autocrats have maintained their positions of authority by inheritance or the ruthless use of military or police power.

4) Totalitarian dictatorship

A) An absolute autocracy.

B) The ideas of a single leader are glorified.

C) The government seeks to control all aspects of social and economic life.

D) Examples:

i) Adolph Hitler / Nazi Germany

ii) Benito Mussolini / Fascist Italy

iii) Joseph Stalin / Soviet Russia

E) In such dictatorships, government is not responsible to the people, and the people lack the power to limit their rulers.

5) Monarchy

A) Another form of autocratic.

B) A king, queen, or emperor exercises the supreme powers of government.

C) Monarchs usually inherit their positions.

D) Absolute Monarchs

i) Have complete and unlimited power to rule their people.

ii) Example – The King of Saudi Arabia

E) Absolute monarchs are rare today.

F) Constitutional Monarchs

i) When a monarch serves as the ceremonial figurehead of the state.

ii) These monarchs may share some governmental powers with elected legislature

6) Oligarchy

A) Any system of government in which a small group holds power.

B) Power is derived from wealth, military power, social position, or a combination of these elements.

C) Sometimes religion is a source of power.

D) Modern oligarchy – Communist China.

E) Both dictatorships and oligarchies sometimes claim to rule for the people:

i) Hold elections but only one candidate.

ii) May have some type of legislature or national assembly elected by or representing the people – approve only the policies and decisions already made by the leaders.

F) Dictatorships and oligarchies usually suppress all political opposition – sometimes ruthlessly.

7) Democracy

A) Any system of government in which rule is by the people.

B) Democracy comes from the Greek demos and kratia – “the people” and “rule”.

C) The key idea of democracy is that the people hold sovereign power.

D) Direct Democracy

i) The people govern themselves by voting on issues individually as citizens.

ii) Exists only in very small societies where citizens can actually meet regularly to discuss and decide key issues and problems. (Example – New England town meetings).

iii) No country today has a government based on direct democracy.

E) Representative or “Indirect” Democracy

i) People elect representatives and give them the responsibility and power to make laws and conduct government.

ii) An assembly of the people’s representatives may be called a council, a legislature, a congress, or a parliament.

iii) Practiced in cities, states, provinces, and countries where the population is too large to meet regularly in one place.

iv) It is the most efficient way to ensure that the rights of individual citizens, who are part of a large group, are represented.

v) Republic

1. Voters are the source of government’s authority.

2. Elected representatives who are responsible to the people exercise that power.

3. A republic requires citizen participation.

4. For most Americans today the terms representative democracy, republic, and constitutional republic mean the same thing: a system of limited government where the people are the ultimate source of governmental authority.

5. Not every democracy in the world is a republic.

3. Characteristics of Democracy

A. Today some nations in the world misuse the word democracy.

B. A true democratic government, as opposed to one that only uses the term democratic in its name, has characteristics that distinguish it from other forms of government.

C. Individual Liberty

1) Democracy requires that all people be as free as possible to develop their own capacities.

2) Government in a democracy works to promote the kind of equality in which all people have an equal opportunity to develop their talents to the fullest extent possible.

D. Majority Rule with Minority rights

1) Democracy requires that government decisions be based on majority rule.

2) In a democracy, people usually accept decisions made by the majority of voters in a free election.

3) Laws enacted in the legislatures represent the will of the majority of the lawmakers.

4) Since lawmakers are elected by the people, the laws are accepted by the people.

5) Majority rule in America

A) The American concept of democracy includes a concern about the possible tyranny of the majority.

B) The Constitution helps ensure that the rights of individuals in the minority will be protected.

C) Respect for minority rights can be difficult to maintain, especially when society is under great stress (Examples – WWII Japanese internment and post 9-11).

E. Free Elections

1) Democratic governments receive their legitimacy by the consent of the governed.

2) The authority to create and run the government rests with the people.

3) All genuine democracies have free and open elections.

4) Free elections give people the chance to choose their leaders and to voice their opinions on various issues.

5) Ensures that public officials pay attention to the wishes of the people.

6) Key characteristics of free elections.

A) Everyone’s vote carries the same weight – one person, one vote.

B) All candidates have the right to express their views freely, giving voters access to competing ideas.

C) Citizens are free to help candidates or support issue.

D) Legal requirements for voting , such as age, residence, and citizenship, are kept to a minimum.

E) Citizens may vote freely by secret ballot, without coercion or fear of punishment for their voting decisions.

F. Competing Political Parties

1) A group of individuals with broad common interest who organize to nominate candidates for office, win elections, conduct government, and determine public policy.

2) An important element of democratic government.

3) While any number of parties may compete, the two-party system (Democrats and Republicans) has developed in the United States.

4) Rival parties help make elections meaningful:

A) Give voters a choice among candidates.

B) Simplify and focus attention on key issues for voters.

C) Parties out of power serve as the “loyal opposition”.

i) By criticizing the policies and actions of the party in power, they can help make those in power more responsible to the people.

4. The Soil of Democracy

A. Overview

1) Historically, few nations have practiced democracy.

2) One reason may be that real democracy seems to require a special environment.

3) Democratic government is more likely to succeed in countries that, to some degree, meet five general criteria that reflect the quality of life of citizens.

B. Active Citizen Participation

1) Democracy requires citizens who are willing to participate in civic life.

2) Examples

A) Citizens are able to inform themselves about issues.

B) To vote in elections

C) To serve on juries

D) To work for candidates

E) To run for government office

C. A Favorable Economy

1) Democracy succeeds more in countries that do not have extremes of wealth and poverty and that have a large middle class.

2) The opportunity to control one’s economic decisions provides a base for making independent political decisions.

3) Free Enterprise

4) If people do not have control of their economic lives, they will not likely be free to make political decisions.

5) Countries with stable, growing economies seem better able to support democratic governments.

D. Widespread Education

1) Democracy is more likely to succeed in countries with an educated public.

2) Public education was established in the United States in the 1830s.

E. Strong Civil Society

1) Democracy is not possible without a civil society.

2) Civil Society

A) A complex network of voluntary associations, economic groups, religious organizations, and many other kinds of groups that exist independently of government.

B) These organizations give citizens a way to make their views known to government officials and the general public.

C) Provide citizens a means to take responsibility for protecting their rights and give everyone a chance to learn about democracy by participating in it.

F. A Social Consensus

1) Democracy prospers where most people accept democratic values such as individual liberty and equality for all.

2) There must be a general agreement about the purpose and limits of government.

Section 4 – Economic Theories

1. Overview

A. Economics

1) Defined - The study of human efforts to satisfy seemingly unlimited wants through the use of limited resources.

2) Resources: include natural materials (land, water, minerals, trees) and human factors (skills, knowledge, physical capabilities).

3) Selling, advertising, providing a service or product to meet a demand, paying wages and taxes are all economic activities.

4) There are never enough resources to produce all the goods and services people could possibly want.

5) People in every nation must decide how these resources are to be used.

6) Governments generally regulate this economic activity.

2. The Role of Economic Systems

A. Governments around the world provide for many kinds of economic systems.

B. All economic systems, however, must make three major economic decisions:

1) What and how much should be produced.

2) How goods and serves should be produced.

3) Who gets the goods and services that are produced.

C. Each major economic system in the world (capitalism, socialism, communism) answers these questions differently.

3. Capitalism or Free Enterprise

A. Overview

1) Freedom of choice and individual incentive for workers, investors, consumers, and business enterprises is emphasized.

2) Government assumes that society will be best served by any productive economic activity that free individuals choose.

3) Pure Capitalism (5 features)

A) Private ownership and control of property and economic resources.

B) Free enterprise

C) Competition among businesses

D) Freedom of choice

E) The possibility of profits

B. Origins of Capitalism

1) No one person invented the idea of capitalism.

2) Developed gradually from economic and political changes in medieval and early modern Europe.

3) Two early important concepts:

A) The idea that people could work for economic gain.

B) The idea that wealth should be used aggressively.

4) By the 18th Century, Europe had national states, a wealthy middle class familiar with money and markets, and a new attitude toward work and wealth.

5) Free Market – a situation in which the government placed on limits on the freedom of buyers and sellers to make economic decisions.

6) Adam Smith – The Wealth of Nations

A) Scottish philosopher and economist.

B) Outlined the major tenants of Capitalism in his book.

C) Laissez-faire

i) French term – “to let alone” or “hands off”

ii) Government should keeps its hands off the economy.

iii) Government’s role is strictly limited to those few actions needed to ensure free competition in the marketplace.

7) So what does a free-enterprise economy mean?

A) Economic decisions are made by buyers (consumers) and sellers (producers).

B) Sellers own businesses that produce goods or services.

C) Buyers pay for those goods and services that they believe best fit their needs.

D) What is produced is determined in the marketplace by the actions of the buyers and sellers, rather than by the government.

8) Competition

A) Plays a key role in a free-enterprise economy.

B) Sellers compete with one another to produce goods and services at reasonable prices.

C) Sellers also compete for resources.

D) Consumers compete with one another to buy what they want and need.

E) Consumers in their roles as workers try to sell their skills and labor for the best wages or salaries they can get.

C. The Free Enterprise in the United States

1) No nation in the world has a pure capitalist system.

2) The United States is a leading example of a capitalist system in which the government plays a relatively minor role.

3) The government’s main economic task has been to preserve the free market.

4) The government has tried to encourage business competition and private property ownership.

D. Government Influence

1) Since the early 1900s the national’s government influence on the economy has increased in several ways:

A) As the nation’s government has grown it has become the single largest buyer of goods and service in the country.

B) The United States government has increasingly regulated the economy for various purposes.

i) The Meat Inspection Act

ii) Pure Food and Drug Act

C) Government plays a role in labor-management relations, the regulation of environmental pollution, and contorl over many banking and investment practices.

2) The Great Depression of the 1930s.

A) The national government set up the Social Security system, programs to aid the unemployed, and a variety of social programs.

B) The setting up of public corporations: Tennessee Valley Authority that compete directly with private companies.

E. Mixed-Market Economy

1) An economy in which free enterprise is combined with and supported by government decisions in the marketplace.

2) Government keeps competition free and fair and protects the public interest.

4. Socialism

A. Overview

1) The government owns the basic means of production, determines the use of resources, distributes the products and wages, and provides social services such as education, health care, and welfare.

2) Goals of Socialism:

A) The distribution of wealth and economic opportunity equally among people.

B) Society’s control, through its government, of all major decisions about production.

C) Public ownership of most land, of factories, and of other means of production.

3) The basic idea of modern socialism began to develop in the nineteenth century.

A) Industrialization caused several problems.

B) Low-paid workers, poverty, slums.

C) Terrible working conditions.

D) Socialism was a reaction to these problems.

B. Democratic Socialism

1) A peaceful movement that wishes to make economic changes through the democratic processes of a nation.

2) Under this system the people have basic human rights and have some control over government officials through free elections and multiparty systems.

3) The government, however, owns the basic means of production and makes most economic decisions.

4) Tanzania, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden today operate under a form of democratic socialism.

C. Opponents to Socialism

1) Socialism stifles individual initiative.

2) Socialist nations’ high tax rates hinder economic growth.

3) Because socialism requires increased governmental regulation, it helps create big government and thus may lead to dictatorship.

5. Communism

A. Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)

1) German thinker and writer.

2) Socialist who advocated violent revolution.

3) Believed the capitalist system would collapse.

4) Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867)

A) Industrialized nations are divided into two categories:

i) Bourgeoisis – Those who owned the means of production.

ii) Proletariat – Those who work to produce goods.

B) Capitalist are a ruling class because they use their economic power to force their will on the workers.

C) Workers do not receive full compensation for their labor because the owners keep the profits from the goods the workers make.

D) Wages in a capitalist system would never rise above a subsistence level – just enough for workers to survive.

B. Class Struggles

1) All human history has been a class struggle between the workers and the owners of the means of production.

2) As time passed, a smaller and smaller group of capitalists would control all means of production and hence, all wealth.

3) Eventually workers would rise in violent revolution and overthrow the capitalists.

4) The goal of this revolution was government ownership of the means of production and distribution.

5) Scientific Socialism

A) In time, socialism would develop into full communism.

B) Economic events both encourage and lead to a communist revolution.

C. Communism as a Command Economy

1) In Communist nations, government planners decide how much to produce, what to produce, and how to distribute the goods and services produced.

2) This is known as a command economy.

A) Decisions are made at the upper levels of government and handed down to managers.

B) The state owns the land, natural resources, industry, banks, and transportation facilities.

C) The state controls mass communication including newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and motion picture production.

3) Because Communist countries sometimes fail to provide adequate standards of living, these governments have had to choose between change and revolt by the people.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download