Understanding Government and State: Essential Features and Purposes

1. Principles of Government

2. state: • a political community in a precise territory.

3. sovereignty[a state has this] • Its government makes and enforces its own laws without approval from any authority.

4. nation • often used for state, but it really means a sizable group of people who believe themselves united by the common bonds.

5. 2-What are four common bonds that unite people in a nation? • race, • language, • custom and • religion

6. 3-What are the four essential features of a state? 1-Population 2-Territory 3-Sovereignty 4-Government

7. 3-What are the four essential features of a state? Provide details for each. • 1-Population: • States where the people share an agreement about basic beliefs and values have the most stable governments • Shifts in population influence a state’s political organization. • In recent decades, millions of Americans have moved to Texas, California, Nevada and Arizona, shifting political power from the NE to the SW. • States that have lost population now have fewer representatives in Congress, while states with a growing population have gained representatives.

8. 3-What are the four essential features of a state? Provide details for each. • 2-Territory: • A state has established boundaries. • The continental US: Atlantic-Pacific, and recognized borders with Canada and Mexico. • The exact location or shape of political boundaries is often a source of conflict among stats. • Territorial boundaries may change as a result of war, negotiations or purchase. [LA Purchase, Mexican War...]

9. 3-What are the four essential features of a state? Provide details for each. • 3-Sovereignty: • Political sovereignty means that a state has supreme and absolute authority within its boundaries. • A state has complete independence and power to make laws, foreign policy and determine its course of action. • In theory, no state has the right to interfere with the internal affairs of another state. • In practice, states with great economic strength and military capabilities have more power than other states.

10. 3-What are the four essential features of a state? Provide details for each. • 4-Government: • Is the institution through which a state • maintains social order, • provides public services and • enforces decisions that are binding on all its residents.

11. 4-Of the four essential features of a state, which do you think is the most essential? • Explain your response.

12. Four Theories on the Origins of the State

13. Evolutionary Theory • The state evolved from the family. • The head of the primitive family served as the government authority. • An extended family might include hundreds of people. • Gradually, the extended family needed more organization and the state emerged.

14. II. Force Theory In early civilizations, people cooperated to survive. They built walled cities to keep out enemies. The state existed because of the need to keep out enemies. A state emerged when everyone in an area was brought under the authority of one person or group who would protect them from enemies.

15. IV. Social Contract Theory • Beginning in the 1600s, some Europeans began to challenge the divine right theory. Among the earliest were English philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. • Both Hobbes and Locke theorized that In any society there existed a state of naturewhen there was no government. • To create a government, a social contract [an agreement]was made between a ruler and the ruled. • Hobbes and Locke had different views on the terms of this contract.

16. III. Divine Right Theory Certain people are chosen by God to lead. This term refers to European monarchs in the 16 and 1700s who proclaimed that their right to rule came from God alone. To oppose a monarch was to oppose God and thus not only treasonous but sinful. .

17. 7-Describe the Four Purposes of Government • 1-To Maintain Social Order • Governments provide ways of resolving conflicts among people in order to maintain social order. • Governments make and enforce laws. • Require people to pay taxes; serve in the military. • The Judicial system enables the government to help resolve disagreements among people.

18. 7-Describe the Four Purposes of Government • 2-Providing Public Services • To provide services that people cannot provide for themselves: • Building sewers, laying utility lines, paving roads, repairing bridges; food inspection, public schools

19. 7-Describe the Four Purposes of Government • 3-Providing National Security • To protect citizens from attacks: terrorists, foreign military.

20. 7-Describe the Four Purposes of Government • 4-Making Economic Decisions • To reduce economic conflict: • To pass laws that shape the economic environment: creating a national currency. • Make payments to farmers who raise certain crops; give tax breaks to certain industries • Stimulates economic growth by controlling inflation, encouraging trade and controlling the development of natural resources.

21. 8-Define the following: Unitary System- Federal system- Constitution- Preamble- Politics-

22. Unitary System of Government: • All key powers are given to the central government

23. Federal System of Government: • Divides the powers of government between the national and state governments.

24. Constitution • A plan that provides the rules for government and how the government should operate. • Sets out ideals that people believe in and share. • Establishes the basic structure of government and defines the governments powers and duties. • It provides the supreme law for the country.

25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHp7sMqPL0g

26. Preamble: a statement that sets fourth the goals and purposes of a government. • The 6 goals of the preamble of the U.S. Constitution • FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION • ESTABLISH JUSTICE • INSURE DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY • PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENSE • PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE • SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY • Put each of these in your own words

27. Politics: The effort to control or influence the conduct and policies of government.