1. Principles of Government

2. Unit 1 Vocabulary Government Public policy Democracy State
Sovereignty (sovereign)
U.S. Constitution
Precedent
Writ of Habeas Corpus
Social Contract Theory
Representative democracy
Direct democracy
Republic
Limited government

3. What is government?
“the institution through which a society makes and enforces public policies”

4. What is public policy?
Polices, or actions that the government chooses to do.
Examples: taxation, education, health care, national defense, civil rights.

5. What is a state?
“a body of people, living in a defined territory, organized politically, and has the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority.”
Think of this as a “political state”

6. Characteristics of a state: what must a state have to function?
Population
Territory
Sovereignty
Government

7. Characteristics of The State
Population
A state must have people
Smallest state San Marino 27,000
Territory
Must have recognized boundaries
Largest Russia 6.6 Million Square Miles
Smallest San Marino 24 Square Miles
United States is about half the size of Russia

8. Characteristics of The State
3. Sovereignty
The state has supreme in absolute POWER within its own territory
The state can decide its own foreign and domestic policies
Who holds the power? A person or the people?
4. Government –
Every state is politically organized
Government consist of the machinery and personnel by which the state is ruled
Government takes many forms
Sovereignty is the one characteristic that distinguishes the state from all lesser political units. Consequently the Virgin islands in Guam are not sovereign but are territorial possessions in the United States.
Government is the Institution through which society makes and enforces its public policies. It is the agency through which the state inserts it’s well it works to accomplish its goals
United States has 300 million people and 38,000,000 mi.²
Are individual states with the United States sovereign?

9. But first……
What is a theory?

10. Theory: A proposed explanation or hypothesis designed to account for any phenomenon. Something that has not been proven.

11. Theories on How Government Developed:
The Force Theory
Government developed b/c someone forced others to obey their rules
Evolutionary Theory
Government developed out of the family structure
Divine Right Theory
Government leaders get their power from a higher being
Social Contract Theory…

12. The Social Contract Theory
State developed voluntarily. People created government therefore government serves the people. People can change the government.
Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu
Popular sovereignty
Limited government
Individual rights
Branches of government

13. So…what does this have to do with OUR government?
Does anyone want to guess which of the theories defines the United States government?
Social Contract Theory

14. Representative Democracy
Democracy= government that is run by the people
A representative democracy is one where public policies are made by officials who are selected by the voters and held accountable in periodic elections.
The United States has a representative democracy

15. Direct Democracy
A government in which the sovereignty is given to ALL people that choose to participate in the government
It is difficult to find a government with a direct democracy today; the best example of a direct democracy were the colonial governments in New England (during America’s colonial period)
Why can’t the United States have a direct democracy today?

16. Republic
a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.
From
A republic is almost synonymous with representative democracy

17. What is the Purpose of our Government?
A solid answer is found in the preamble of our constitution……
To Form a More Perfect Union
To Establish Justice
To Insure Domestic Tranquility
To Provide For a Common Defense
To Promote the General Welfare
To Secure the Blessings of Liberty

18. To Form a More Perfect Union

19. To Establish Justice

20. To Ensure Domestic Tranquility

21. To provide for the Common Defense

22. To Promote the General Welfare

23. To Secure the Blessings of Liberty

24. Forms of Government
2 major indicators that describe the form of government in a state
Participation
Distribution of power

25. Participation
To know what form of government a state has, ask yourself: who can participate?
Democracy
Political authority rests with the people
Who has sovereignty?
Direct and Indirect democracy
Is a representative democracy direct or indirect?

26. Participation
To know what form of government a state has, ask yourself: who can participate?
Dictatorship- absolute power
Autocracy: a single person has unlimited power
Oligarchy: power is held by a small group of people

27. Distribution of Power
Question asked: where is the power to govern located?
Unitary government: power belongs mainly in the central government (rather than local government agencies)
Local governments only have powers that are given to them by the central government- main purpose is to relieve the central government of all of its responsibilities
There is a DIFFERENCE between a unitary government and a dictatorship. In a unitary government, the government’s power can still be limited (meaning there are certain things that the government cannot do).
A government can be unitary AND democratic

28. Distribution of Power
Question asked: where is the power to govern located?
Federal Government- powers of government are divided between a central government and local governments
Responsibilities are sometimes shared, but they are also divided between different LEVELS of government
Example: The United States
No Child Left Behind: National government legislation
It is the state’s responsibility to create and control their state’s education system. The Law, NCLB, gave guidelines to the states (a national government power), but the responsibility ultimately lies with the states. You take Georgia state tests, not national tests

29. Distribution of Power
Question asked: where is the power to govern located?
Confederation- government power resides with local government agencies (like states in the United States)
The central government ONLY has the power to do what the states assign it to do
I.e. defense (military)
The national government is NOT strong, and the governing authority that has the most control is the state government
States are loosely bound together by the central authority
Example: European Union- The EU has some authority over its states (European countries). For example, it created a currency that is shared amongst all of the European countries, the Euro

30. Characteristics of Democracy

31. Characteristics of Democracy
There are four main principles that describe a democracy… If a government meets these requirements, then it is a democracy
Individual Liberty
Majority Rule with Minority Right
Free Elections
Competing Political Parties

32. Individual Liberty People are FREE People have rights
Equal Opportunity

33. Majority Rule with Minority Rights
Decisions based on the will of the majority
Consideration of the minority groups

34. Free Elections
People elect representatives- giving them their consent to govern over them
There is a choice
One person, one vote
Candidates express their views freely
Citizens can take part in campaigns

35. Competing Political Parties
Political party: group of individuals with broad common interests who organize and support candidates for office; develop specific ideologies that tie them together
Rival parties make elections meaningful