Origins of the State & Types of Governments

What is the State? The State - is a political community. The state includes : a definite territory an organized government power to make and enforce laws Sovereign - supreme and absolute authority. Examples of states: ?

Purposes of Government: Maintaining Social Order (examples) To Provide Public Services (examples) To Provide for a National Security (examples) To Provide for and Control the Economy. (examples)

Force Theory A strong person or group controlled an area forced all within it to submit to their rule That rule established population, territory, sovereignty, and government How would a person or group gain control of an area?

Evolutionary Theory Primitive family where one person was the head and therefore the “government” was the beginning of the state Nuclear families became extended families and eventually a clan Clans became tribes and when they settled onto a defined territory-the state was born Why did humans begin to settle into defined territories?

Divine Right Theory Accepted in the West from the 15th to the 18th centuries Belief that God invented the state & gave certain people through birth a “divine right” to rule To disobey the ruler was treason and was going against God’s will Divine right was also practiced in China, Egypt, Central and South America and Japan

Social Contract Theory Developed in the 17th and 18th centuries Hobbes- People had complete freedom, but individuals were only as safe as their physical strength and intelligence could make them Individuals agreed to give up some of their freedoms to protect themselves and each other Theories of Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau were used by our founding fathers in the creation of the United States

Hobbes Leviathan Discusses the need for government “In such condition, there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Do you agree with Hobbes? Do we need government? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQkActP-isE

Locke Open your book to Page 11 and complete the reading and questions

Rousseau The Social Contract "Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they." What does this quote mean to you?

Types of Government All governments belong to one of the three groups: Autocracy Oligarchy Democracy

Autocracy: The oldest and most common form of government is an Autocracy. In an autocracy authority resides in a single individual. Examples: dictatorship absolute monarchy

Oligarchy An oligarchy is any system of government in which a small group holds power. Examples: Communist party of China and the former Soviet Union.

Democracy: In a democracy rule is by the people. “government of the people, by the people and for the people.” The key idea of democracy is sovereign power. Sovereign - supreme and absolute authority.