Structure of GovernmentMr. Novak

Origins of Government

• Evolution• Force• Divine Right• Social Contract

Evolution

• Theory suggests that governments developed from the family unit. In ancient times, the head of the family made the rules, eventually families banded together.

Force

• Theory suggests that one strong person or group simply claimed an area and grabbed control of the people living there.

Divine Right

• Theory was used during the Middle Ages to justify the power of the monarchs. Kings and queens claimed their right to rule was passed down from God and to their children. Power was hereditary and absolute.

Social Contract

• Theory was created in opposition of the divine right theory. Suggests that free persons unite when their government stops serving them.

Structure of Government

Federal Government

• Power is divided between state and national levels.

• Can be referred to as “federalism.”• Works best in large nations where the

population have incredibly diverse or conflicting needs. State governments can care for local needs while national government can care for broader needs.

• United State, Canada, Mexico, etc.

Unitary Government

• Power remains at the national level. • Small local units may be created, but

only to carry out policies of national government.

• France, Great Britain, Israel, etc.

Confederate Government

• A cooperative of individual states that give the central government the power to deal with matters of common concern such as defense or foreign relations.

• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

• EC (European Community)• U.S. during the Civil War

Political Systems

• Authoritarian System (Totalitarian)• Autocracy

• Monarchy• Fascism

• Dictatorship• Oligarchy• Theocracy

• Nonauthoritarian• Anarchy• Democracy

• Direct Democracy• Indirect Democracy (Representative)

Anarchy

• Most extreme form of nonauthoritarian government.

• Supporters or anarchy value the freedom to do whatever they want more than the order and security provided by the government.

Democracy

• Direct Democracy• Originally meant that

the people made the laws, set goals, and distributed the benefits of the gov’t.

• Every citizen votes on every issue.

• Ancient Greece/Athens

• New England Town Meetings

• Indirect Democracy• “Representative

Democracy”• People express will

by electing reps to conduct gov’t business.

• Presidential• Parliamentary

Democracy (Representative)

• Presidential Dem.• The branch of gov’t

that makes the law and the one that carries it out are separate.

• US: Congress makes the law, President carries it out.

• Parliamentary Dem.• Separation is

“murky”• PM and Cabinet carry

out the laws while Parliament enacts the law.

• “Murky” because members of cabinet are also in parliament.

• Overlapping

Authoritarian

• Government where the state, not the people, hold the ultimate authority• Fascism

• Dictatorship

• Autocracy• Monarchy

• Oligarchy• Theocracy

Fascism

Absolute power is held by the state. Ultimate decision making power is held by his individual…Fidel Castro• Decide standards of living.• Decide freedoms.

• Dictatorship: One individual or small group holds power.

• Oligarchy: Power given to a party or group, government by the few.

Monarchy

• Constitutional:• Powers limited by a

Constitution. • Usually the position is

only ceremonial.• G.B., Sweden, Norway

• Absolute:• King/Queen hold ALL the

power. • Given by God.• Saudi Arabia

• Form of government headed by a single leader who has inherited his/her title.

Autocracy

• One Individual holds unlimited power.

Theocracy

• God is the sovereign, speaking through the voice of a earthly representative. • Fundamentalist Islamic leaders in Iran.

• Every element of Iran’s legal system and culture follow Islamic law-as interpreted by their leader.

Economic Systems

• Capitalism: Laissez Faire: “to allow to do”

• Very little government involvement.

• Free Enterprise:• Production owned by one or

many persons.• Competition dominates.

• Mixed Economy:• Free Enterprise + some

gov’t involvement.

• Socialism:• Gov’t owns, operates,

manages basic industries such as coal, transportation, steel, and public utilities.

• Should benefit all members of society.

• Communism:• Society owns all means of

production, distribution, and exchange. There is not private property.

• No rents, wages, interests, profits, etc.

• Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx & Freidrich Engels 1848