1 / 13

Principles of Government

Principles of Government. Chapter One. Section 1. Government and the State. The State. A body of people, living in a defined territory, organized politically (that is, with a government), and with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority.

alize
Download Presentation

Principles of Government

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Principles of Government Chapter One

  2. Section 1 Government and the State

  3. The State • A body of people, living in a defined territory, organized politically (that is, with a government), and with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority Four Characteristics of the State • Population • The people that live within and live by the laws of the state • Territory • The land belonging to the state with known and recognized boundaries • Sovereignty • Having supreme and absolute power within its own territory and can decide its own foreign and domestic policies. It is neither subordinate nor responsible to any other authority • Government • The institution through which a society makes and enforces public policies

  4. Major Political Idea/Theories • Force Theory • A person or small group takes over an existing state by force and claims it as their own • Evolutionary Theory • The state develops naturally from family groups staying together and forming a hierarchy • Divine Right Theory • God created the state and had given those of royal birth the divine right to rule over the state and to oppose them was both treason and a mortal sin • Social Contract Theory • People living together in a given area agree to create a state and willingly give the state as much power as was needed to promote the safety and well being of all

  5. Three Powers of Government • Legislative Power • The power to make law and frame public policy • Executive Power • The power the execute, enforce, and administer law • Judicial Power • The power to interpret laws, to determine their meaning, and to settle disputes that arise within the society

  6. Section 2 Forms of Government

  7. Classifying Governments • Who can participate in the governing process • The geographic distribution of governmental power within the state • The relationship between the legislative and the executive branches

  8. Types of Governments • Who can participate • Democracy: Supreme political authority lies with the people. The people hold the sovereign power and the government is conducted only by and with consent of the people. • Direct • Pure democracy, the will of the people is translated to law directly by the people themselves in mass meetings. It does not exist at the national level anywhere in the world today • Indirect • Representative democracy, a group of persons chosen by the people act as their representatives to express the popular will.

  9. Who Can Participate Cont. • Dictatorship: Those who rule are cannot be held responsible to the will of the people. It is probably the oldest and is the most common form of government in history. • Autocracy • Government in which a single person holds unlimited political power • Oligarchy • Government in which the power to rule is held by a small, usually self appointed elite

  10. Types of Government Cont. • Distribution of power • Unitary • Centralized government, all powers held by the government belong to a single, central agency. Most governments in the world are unitary • Federal • The powers of government are divided between a central government and several local governments • Confederate • An alliance of independent states. It has the power to handle only those things that member states have assigned to it. EU is a close example.

  11. Types of Government Cont. • Relationship between braches • Presidential • Features a separation of powers between the executive and the legislative branches. The head of the executive branch is chosen separately for a fixed term and is given different powers not subject to the control of the legislative branch. • Parliamentary • The executive is made up of members from the official’s cabinet and are still members of the legislative branch and is subject to direct control from it.

  12. Section 3 Basic Concepts of Democracy

  13. Concepts • Foundations • Worth of individual • Equality of all persons • Majority rule, minority rights • Necessity of Compromise • Individual Freedom • Free Enterprise System • How it works • Supply and Demand • Government intervention

More Related