This document provides an overview of key concepts related to government and political systems. It defines government as the institution that makes and enforces public policy. It also outlines the three basic powers of government - legislative, executive, and judicial. The document then discusses different forms of governance like democracy and dictatorship. It identifies the four characteristics of a state as population, territory, sovereignty, and government. It concludes by explaining that sovereignty means a state has supreme power within its own territory.
2. Government
Public policy
Legislative power
Executive power
Judicial power
Constitution
Dictatorship
Democracy
State
Sovereign
3. Section Objectives:
Define government and the basic powers every
government holds
Describe the four defining characteristics of the state
Identify four theories that attempt to explain the origin
of the state
Understand the purpose of government in the United
States and other countries.
4.4 Understand the basic features of major
forms of governance in the world.
11. Government- the institution through which a
society makes and enforces its public policies.
Those public polices are everything government
decides to do.
Public policy includes (but is not limited to):
Taxation Defense
Education Health Care
Civil Rights Environment
12. Every government has three types of power:
Legislative power – the power to make law
Executive power – the power to execute,
administer and enforce law
Judicial power – the power to interpret law
These powers are often outlined in a
country’s constitution
Constitution – a body of fundamental laws
13. Dictatorship – ultimate power is held by one
person
Autocracy
Oligarchy
Democracy – supreme authority is held by
the people
Presidential
Parliamentary
14. Throughout history, the state has emerged as
the dominant political unit in the world.
There are more than 190 states in the world.
A state is a legal entity, not to be confused with a
nation or a country. (More on the next slide)
Each state possesses four characteristics:
Population Territory
Sovereignty Government
15. According to the Leopold Bloom in James
Joyce’s novel Ulysses, a nation is,
“the same people living in the same place”
Nations can have similar ethnicity, language,
religion
“territorially bounded groups with a common
heritage.”
Still…not a state.
16. Each state must have people, or a population.
The size of that population has nothing to do
with the existence of the state.
Vatican City (the world’s smallest state) is only .2
square miles (.3 km) and only has 770 citizens.
China has around 1.36 billion citizens.
17. A state must also have land, or territory.
States can vary in size.
They can be as small as San Marino (24 square
miles)
Or as big as Russia - 6.6 million square miles.
Or Slovakia – 30,500 sq. miles
▪ (49, 000 sq. km)
18. Every state is sovereign.
This means that it has supreme and absolute power
within its own territory and can decide its own
foreign and domestic policies.
A sovereign state is neither subordinate nor
responsible to any other authority.
The states within the United States, however,
are not sovereign because they are
subordinate to the Constitution of the U.S.
19. Every state must be politically organized. This
means that every state must have a
government.
A government is the agency through which a
state exerts its will and works to accomplish its
goals.
Without government, we might face a life
described by Thomas Hobbes which that would
be “nasty, brutish, and short.”
20. What does government do?
“We the people of the United States, in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.”
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
21. What does government do?
“We the people of the United States, in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.”
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
22. What does government do?
“We the people of the United States, in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.”
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
23. What does government do?
“We the people of the United States, in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.”
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
24. What does government do?
“We the people of the United States, in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.”
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
25. What does government do?
“We the people of the United States, in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.”
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
26. What does government do?
“We the people of the United States, in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.”
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
27. Which of the following powers has the power
to make laws and frame public policies:
A. Judicial
B. Executive
C. Legislative
28. Which of the following powers has the power
to make laws and frame public policies:
A. Judicial
B. Executive
C. Legislative
29. Which of the following powers has the power
to interpret laws, to determine their meaning,
and to settle disputes that arise within society.
A. Executive
B. Legislative
C. Judicial
30. Which of the following powers has the power
to interpret laws, to determine their meaning,
and to settle disputes that arise within society.
A. Executive
B. Legislative
C. Judicial
31. This is a form of government where the leader
has absolute power and authority.
A. Democracy
B. Dictatorship
C. Oligarchy
32. This is a form of government where the leader
has absolute power and authority.
A. Democracy
B. Dictatorship
C. Oligarchy
33. In a _________, supreme authority rests with
the people.
A. Anarchy
B. Oligarchy
C. Democracy
34. In a _________, supreme authority rests with
the people.
A. Anarchy
B. Oligarchy
C. Democracy
35. Which is NOT one of the four characteristics
that a state has:
A. Population
B. Territory
C. Dictatorship
36. Which is NOT one of the four characteristics
that a state has:
A. Population
B. Territory
C. Dictatorship
37. If a state is ______________, supreme and
absolute power within its own territory and can
decide its own foreign and domestic policies.
A. Representative
B. Decisive
C. Sovereign
38. If a state is ______________, supreme and
absolute power within its own territory and can
decide its own foreign and domestic policies.
A. Representative
B. Decisive
C. Sovereign
