Unit I Foundations of American Government Objectives; 1. Define Government and examine the purposes of government. Government is the institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies. Government is the institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies.

Purposes of Government; Form a more perfect union Establish Justice. Insure domestic tranquility Provide for common defense Promote general welfare Secure blessings of liberty. Every government has 3 basic powers; LegislativeExecutiveJudicial

Objective 2; Differentiate between state and national governments and recognize the essential features of a state. State- Body of people living in a defined territory, organized politically and with the power to make and enforce laws without the consent of a higher authority.

Features of a state; PopulationTerritory Sovereignty – supreme and absolute authority within it’s boundaries. Government

Objective 3; Compare and contrast various theories of government, including Evolutionary, Force, Divine Right, and Social Contract. Evolutionary Theory Force Theory Divine Right Social Contract

Objective 4; Understand the development of Social Contract theory as expressed by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan and John Locke in Two Treatises on Government. Social Contract; Hobbes said that people were originally free in nature.

No one was subject to a superior power. People owned what they took by force. No authority existed to protect people from others. People agreed to create a state for protection. People agreed, by contract, to give the state as much power as it needed to protect them.

Social contract theory argues that the state arose out of the voluntary act of free people. The state only exists to serve the will of the people and they are the sole source of political power. People are free to give or withhold that power as they choose.

Objective 5; Classify the types of government including autocracy (dictatorship and absolute monarchy), oligarchy, theocracy, anarchy, democracy (direct and representative)

Autocracy; Government in which one person holds unlimited power. Can be a dictatorship or an absolute monarchy. Dictatorship; Exists where those who rule cannot be held responsible to the will of the people. Oldest and most common form of government

Kim Il Jong

Momar Khadafy

Oligarchy; Government in which power is held by a small, usually self- appointed elite. Theocracy; Government ruled by religious leaders. Iran

Anarchy; No formal government. Somalia Democracy; Direct – everyone is involved in decision making process. (Ancient Athens) Representative – people vote for representatives to represent them in their government.

Objective 6; Recognize the structures of government to include unitary, confederate and federal systems; and distinguish between presidential and parliamentary systems of government.

Unitary Structure; Commonly called a Centralized Government. All power belongs to a single centralized government agency. The National Government creates local governments for convenience. They only have powers given them by the National Government.

Most governments in the world are Unitary. Ex; Great Britain Parliament holds all power and local governments exist to relieve Parliament and aid it in governing regarding local matters. Parliaments powers are limited by Britain’s constitution however.

Federal Government Structure; Government in which powers are divided between a central government and local governments. Both levels act upon people through their own laws, officials, and agencies. A Constitution is the supreme law and cannot be changed unless all levels agree.

U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, India, Switzerland and about 20 other countries.

Confederate Government Structure; Alliance of independent states. Usually a weak central government that only has powers the states give it. Usually can’t make laws that apply to individuals because states have this power.

Confederations are rare. Ex; European Union, U.S. under the Articles of Confederation, Confederate States of America. Presidential Government; Features a separation of powers between the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch. Chief Executive is chosen separately from the legislature.

All branches usually have separate powers spelled out in a constitution. U.S. invented the Presidential form of government. Most are located in the Western Hemisphere.

Parliamentary Government; Executive is the Prime Minister and his/her cabinet. They are members of Parliament. Prime Minister is member of majority party in Parliament. Cabinet members are selected by PM from members of Parliament.

Prime Minister and Cabinet are known as “The Government”. They stay in power as long as Parliament supports them. If they lose support of Parliament, they resign and Parliament selects another PM. People vote for members of Parliament NOT for the PM.

Majority of governments in world today are Parliamentary in form. Parliamentary governments do not have deadlock between Executive and Legislature that Presidential governments can have since PM and the majority party of Parliament are the same. Parliamentary systems do not have system of checks and balances however.

Prime Minister of England, Gordon Brown

Benjamin Disraeli PM

Winston Churchill

Margaret Thatcher