:''For the 'government' in parliamentary systems, see
Executive (government)
A 'government' is a body that has the power to make, and the authority to enforce rules and laws within a
civil,
corporate,
religious,
academic, or other
organization or group.
[1]
The government consists of different levels: local government, regional governments and national governments, depending on closeness to those who are governed and their holds all the power. This category includes
absolute monarchies, as well as
dictatorships.
★ In
oligarchies political power is held by a small group of people who share the same interests.
★
Democracies are governments where the
people as a whole, hold the power. It may be exercised by them (
direct democracy), or through representatives chosen by them (
representative democracy).
★
Anarchy is a lack of government or imposed rule.
The boundaries between the above forms of government are not absolute. For example, during the 19th century, many proclaimed "democracies" restricted voting rights to a minority of the population (e.g. property-owning males). This could qualify them as oligarchies, rather than as democracies. On the other hand, the non voting minority was often quite large (20-30% of the population) and its members did not form a voting group with common interests. This is seen as the hallmark of most oligarchies. Thus, this form of government occupied a space between democracy and oligarchy as they are understood today.
Force theory
Many
political philosophies that are opposed to the existence of a government (such as
anarchism,
nihilism and to a lesser extent
Marxism, as well as others), emphasize the historical roots of governments - the fact that governments, along with
private property, originated from the authority of warlords and despots who took, by force land as their own (and began exercising authority over the people living on that land). Thus, it is sometimes argued that governments exist to enforce the will of the strong and oppress the weak, maintaining and protecting the privilege of a
ruling class. It states that the government emerged when all the people of an area were brought under the authority of one person or group.
Order and tradition
The various forms of
conservatism, by contrast, generally see the government as a positive force that brings order out of chaos, establishes laws to end the "
war of all against all", encourages moral
virtue, while punishing
vice, and respects
tradition. Sometimes, in this view, the government is seen as something ordained by a higher power, as in the
divine right of kings, which human beings have a duty to obey.
Natural rights
Main articles: Natural rights
Natural rights are the basis for the theory of government shared by most branches of
liberalism (including
libertarianism). In this view, human beings are born with certain ''natural rights'', and governments are established strictly for the purpose of protecting those rights. What the ''natural rights'' actually 'are' is a matter of dispute among liberals; indeed, each branch of liberalism has its own set of rights that it considers to be ''natural'', and these rights are sometimes mutually exclusive with the rights supported by other liberals. As a result, there is some debate between natural rights theorists, ranging from modern writers such as
Tibor Machan to
Enlightenment thinkers such as
Locke,
Kant, or
Jefferson. Today, natural rights are the basis for many issues involving the scope of governmental powers.
Social contract
One of the most influential
theories of government in the past two hundred years has been the
social contract, on which modern
democracy and most forms of
socialism are founded. Contemporary
liberalism such as in the
United States, also tends to work under a social contract theory. The social contract theory holds that governments are created by the people in order to provide for collective needs (such as safety from crime, invasion, natural disasters) that cannot be properly satisfied using purely individual means. Governments thus exist for the purpose of serving the needs and wishes of the people, and their relationship with the people is clearly stipulated in a "social contract" (a
constitution and a set of laws) which both the government and the people must abide by. If a majority is unhappy, it may change the social contract. If a minority is unhappy, it may persuade the majority to change the contract, or it may opt out of it by emigration or secession.
This theory is based on the idea that all men live in a
state of nature which is not ideal to perfect harmony. It is also an agreement among the members of an organized society or between the governed and the government defining and limiting the rights and duties of each.
Thomas Hobbes,
John Locke, and
Jean-Jacques Rousseau are three of the most famous philosophers of
contractarianism.
Governmental operations
Main articles: Government operations
Governments concern themselves with regulating and administering many areas of human activity, such as
trade,
education, or
medicine. Governments also employ different methods to maintain the established order, such as
secrecy,
censorship,
police and
military forces (particularly under
despotism, see also
police state), making agreements with other states, and maintaining support within the state. Typical methods of maintaining support and legitimacy include providing the
infrastructure for
administration,
justice,
transport,
communication,
social welfare, etc.; claiming support from
deities; providing benefits to
elites; providing
shops for important posts within the state; limiting the power of the state through
laws and
constitutions; and appealing to
nationalism. The modern standard unit of
territory is a
country. In addition to the meaning used above, the word
state can refer either to a government or to its territory. Within a territory,
subnational entities may have
local governments which do not have the full power of a national government (for example, they will generally lack the authority to
declare war or carry out diplomacy).
Different
political ideologies hold different ideas on what the government should or should not do. One
political spectrum related to the role of government is that of personal
freedom, from
authoritarianism to
liberalism to
libertarianism. Economic policy can range from a
command economy to
laissez-faire, with most countries using some form of
mixed economy with various degrees of government involvement.
History of government
Governments arose with the increasing complexity of
human society during the history of recorded
civilization - the promulgation of the
Code of Hammurabi and
Athenian democracy, along with the
Roman Republic and
Empire, and the formation of states in medieval
Europe, are signal events from which understanding of government and politics arose. The early modern era in the West saw the rise of
monarchy, revolutions, democracy, and nationalism. Ideologies such as
fascism and later
Communism during the
Cold War in the
20th century influenced
government operations. For other parts of the world, particularly the
Middle East and
Africa, tribal and clan-based governments interacted with religious and colonial forces.
World government
Main articles: World government
A
world government is the concept of a political body that would make, interpret and enforce
international law.
[2] Its ambition has existed in human history since the ancient times among various kings but it has never been realized.
Inherent to the concept of a world government is the idea that nations would be required to pool or surrender (depending on point of view)
sovereignty over some areas. In effect, a world government would add another level of administration above the existing national governments or provide coordination over areas national governments are not capable of adequately addressing as independent polities.
Currently, there has not been a nation to officially put forward plans for a world government, although some people do see international institutions (such as the
International Criminal Court,
United Nations, and
International Monetary Fund) as the beginning elements of a world government system. An organization comprised of legislators from various nations known as
Parliamentarians for Global Action have promoted ideas of
democratic global governance, though such promotion has varied in its scope and intensity during the organization's history.
Some see the creation of a world government as a negative,
dystopic development, often out of concern over
totalitarianism or other kind of
world domination.
Notes and references
1. Columbia Encyclopedia, ''Government'', Columbia University Press.
2. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ''world government''
See also
Roles
★
Governor
★
Head of State
★
Leadership
★
Premier
★
Monarch
★
Statesman
Related concepts
★
Bipartidism
★
Constitution
★
Civics
★
Democracy
★
Federation
★
Government ownership
★
Government simulation
★
Human Freedom
★
Internal security
★
Machinery of government
★
Minority government
★
Non Governmental Organization
★
Politics
★
Political corruption
★
Power
★
Purpose of government
Relevant lists
★
List of fictional governments
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