Foundations of American GovernmentPrinciples of Government

Government and the State

Government is the institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies.

1. What is Government

Public policies are those areas in which government has decided to take an active role.

2. What are public policies?

Taxation, defense,

education, crime, health care, transportation, disaster relief, public health and the environment, plus much more.

3. Examples of Public Policy

Legislative Power - to make laws

and form public policies Executive Power – to execute,

enforce and administer laws Judicial Power – to interpret laws,

determine legal meanings and to settle disputes.

4. Three Basic Powers of Governments

A constitution is the fundamental law of a government that establishes the principles, structures and processes of a government.

5. Constitution

The difference is rooted in who has ultimate responsibility to exercise power. In a democracy the people decide. In a dictatorship one person or a small group make decisions.

6. Democracy v. Dictatorship

“man is a political animal”

7. Aristotle observed that

Politics is the process of shaping government and governmental policies.Government is the institution through which society makes and enforces its public policy.

8. Difference between politics and government.

Population

A state must have people,the number of which doesnot directly relate to itsexistence.

TerritoryA state must be comprisedof land—territory with knownand recognized boundaries.

SovereigntyEvery state is sovereign. Ithas supreme and absolutepower within its ownterritory and decides its ownforeign and domesticpolicies.

GovernmentEvery state has agovernment — that is, it ispolitically organized.

9. Characteristics of the State

A state has supreme authority over a population, territory, and government.

10. What does it mean to be a sovereign state?

The Force Theory The force theory states that one

person or a small group took control of an area and forced all within it to submit to that person’s or group’s rule.

The Evolutionary Theory The evolutionary theory argues

that the state evolved naturally out of the early family.

11. What are the four theories of the origin of a state?

The Divine Right Theory The theory of divine right holds that God

created the state and that God gives those of royal birth a “divine right” to rule.

The Social Contract Theory The social contract theory argues that

the state arose out of a voluntary act of free people who were willing to give up power for safety and the well-being of all

11. What are the four theories of the origin of a state?

The main purposes of government are described in the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States:

12. The Purpose of the United States Government

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence [sic], promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.