Government and Politics

What is Government?

 Government, the political system by which a

country or community is administered and
regulated.
The term ‘government’ may refer to the manner
or process of governing a country or a specific
system we use for controlling a country.
Government also means the group of people
who control a country and make national
decisions.
 It exists for the benefit of the people. It promotes
the physical, economic, & socio-cultural well being
of the people.
 It administers social justice, promotes progress &
development, security & protection.
 The Government is normally consist of Executive
Branch, Legislative Branch, and Judiciary Branch.
a) Executive Branch – under the leadership of the
president (President, Vice President, Cabinet and
about 5,000,000 workers).
b) Legislative Branch – the branch that passes laws,
defines and punishes crimes against the state,
determines the taxes that people should pay and it
can create and abolish courts, except the Supreme
Court (Senate and House of Representatives).
c) Judicial Branch – the judicial power is vested in the
Supreme Court (the highest judicial body) and other
lower courts.
 Classifications of Government
Monarchy
- a political system based upon the undivided
sovereignty or rule of a single person. A monarchy may
become a tyranny when the king or queen oppresses the
people.
 Aristocracy
- the rule of the few good rulers who exercise supreme
authority for the well-being of the people; rule by a few
persons; government by a relatively small
privileged class or by a minority consisting of those felt to
be best qualified to rule.
Democracy
- a form of government in which all eligible citizens have
an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives; rule by the
majority (most) of the people. A government of the people, by
the people, and for the people.
Tyranny
- a perverted form of Monarchy in which the one ruler uses
his supreme authority for his own selfish ends or benefits.
 Oligarchy
- the rule of the chosen few, and these chosen few
happen to be the rich and privileged in Oligarchy; the selfish
government of the few rich men in their own interests.
 Functions of Government
 Foreign diplomacy
- Foreign diplomacy is the process of a sovereign state
conducting formally peaceful relations with another sovereign state
 Military defense
-A political society's national, or central, government is responsible for
preserving the security of that society from foreign aggression. The
government maintains armed forces and, when necessary, utilizes them to
protect the territory and people it governs from attack and invasion by foreign
powers.
 Maintenance of domestic order
- A government must control the people it seeks to govern and protect.
The government must maintain internal peace-- i.e., peace among individuals
and groups within the society.
 Administration of justice
- To enforce the "rule of law," a government must operate a system of laws and
courts that (1) makes all adult citizens equal under the law and (2) provides them
equal opportunities to obtain just settlement of their civil disputes and receive fair
treatment if suspected or accused of engaging in criminal activity. In other words,
the government must operate a system of administering justice, a system which gives
to every person what is his due.
 Protection of civil liberties
- A most important function of government in a constitutional democratic
society is to ptotect civil liberties--i.e., preserve and safeguard the basic rights and
liberties guaranteed by the Constitution to the individual members of the society.
 Provision for and regulation of the conduct of periodic elections
- In a constitutional democratic society, a vitally important constitutional duty
of government is to (1) provide for free and meaningful elections, held at frequent
intervals to fill major public-policy decisionmaking offices in the government, and (2)
regulate the conduct of these elections so as to ensure that they are carried on fairly,
honestly, and peacefully.
 Provision for public goods and services
- Public goods and services are goods and services provided by government. They
are goods and services provided by public institutions, rather than by private institutions.
Governments can and do tax citizens to raise money to spend on goods and services
which will or are expected to benefit all or virtually all citizens but which, according to
widespread perceptions within the society, are not likely to be supplied through voluntary,
market- induced activities of private individuals, groups, and firms.
 Promotion of economic growth and development
- The central government of a modern society seeks to facilitate and foster the
growth and development of the nation's overall economy. The government actively
pursues public policies--especially in the areas of taxation, foreign trade, and regulation of
and subsidies for domestic economic activities-- designed to promote increased capital
formation and industrial production, higher levels of commercial activity within the society,
a more favorable balance of trade with foreign nations, and hence low levels of
unemployment and widespread economic prosperity among the members of its own
society.
 Operation of social- insurance programs to prevent future poverty
- In order to ensure the income security of citizens and thereby
prevent future poverty, contemporary governments in relatively wealthy
societies provide for social insurance--governmented-mandated insurance
programs designed to protect the individual members of society from
economic misfortune widely perceived to be due to circumstances beyond
the control of the individuals, circumstances such as old age, physical
disability, poor health, and temporary unemployment.
 Operation of social-welfare programs to alleviate existing poverty
- Social-welfare policy--also known as "public assistance," "public aid,"
and "public welfare"--consists of government programs to provide assistance
to the poor. These programs are designed to alleviate existing poverty,
providing aid to particular categories of persons who are unable to
adequately support themselves, due to circum- stances widely perceived
within the society to be beyond the control of the indigent persons.
 What is Politics?
Politics is the study or practice of the distribution of
power and resources within the community.
It is the process by which groups of people make
decisions.
The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil
governments, but politics has been observed in all
human group interactions, including corporate,
academic, and religious institutions.
Politics is exercised on a wide range of social levels, from
clans and tribes of traditional societies, through modern
local governments, companies and institutions up to
sovereign states, to the international level.
It consists of social relations involving authority or power, the
regulation of political units, and the methods and tactics used to
formulate and apply social policy.
It is the creation, maintenance, and amendment of social norms
or rules.
It is the realm of public affairs or the state.
END