Dictionary of Meaning
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Government
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A '''government''' is the body that has the
authority to make and the
Political power power to enforce laws within a
civil,
corporate,
religious,
academic, or other
organization or group. In its broadest sense, "to govern" means to administer or supervise, whether over a
state, a set group of people, or a collection of assets.
The word ''government'' is derived from the
Greek language Greek Κυβερνήτης (''kubernites''), which means "steersman", "governor", "pilot" or "rudder".
Typically, "the government" refers to a civil administration. In many countries (particularly those having
parliamentary systems), the '''Government''' refers to the executive branch of government or a specifically named executive, i.e. the
Tony Blair Blair Government (compare to the '''administration''' as in the
Bill Clinton Clinton administration in U.S. usage). The
Welsh Assembly Government is the name of the executive branch of Wales, and Scottish Government is the unofficial term to describe the
Scottish Executive. In countries using the
Westminster system, the
political party party in government will also usually control the
legislature.
Attributes of governments
::If the state is to exist, the dominated must obey the authority claimed by the powers that be....there are three inner justifications, hence basic legitimations of domination. ---
Max Weber--
Politics as a Vocation:
1918
Effective governments possess two attributes, authority and legitimacy.
'''
Authority''' is the ability to compel obedience. Authority can be exercised as naked force and terror as was the case in
Stalinist Russia or
Baathist Iraq or through a series of more or less transparent public hearings as is the case in many western
democracies.
All governments compel obedience using an element of direct physical duress. Less violent forms of compulsion typically include threats, exile, religious banishment, social banishment, or siege (isolation of individuals from subsistence-level economic goods). In some cases money may be used as a form of compulsion.
'''
Legitimacy''' is the attribute of a government that prompts the governed to acquiesce willingly to its authority. Legitimacy is gained through the acquisition and application of power in accordance with recognized or accepted standards or principles. That is to say that a legitimate government will "do the right thing" and therefore deserves to be respected and obeyed.
Authority can be upheld through violent means while legitimacy must be earned. As legitimacy is challenged the use of violence to maintain authority increases.
Branches of government
Under modern
political theory, government is understood as having three main powers:
legislative (the power to make laws),
executive (the power to implement laws) and
judiciary (the power to judge and apply punishment when laws are broken).
Under traditional forms of government that ruled most of the world until a few centuries ago, such as
monarchy and
oligarchy, these powers were concentrated in the hands of one person or a small group of people. One of the innovations of modern
democracy is the
separation of powers into three distinct branches of government that operate independently while acting as checks and balances for each other. This separation is supposed to prevent any one individual or small group from acquiring too much power for themselves and becoming despotic.
Forms of government
{{main|Forms of government}}
Many different forms of government have existed in the past, exist today, or may exist in the future. They are traditionally classified according to the number of people who hold political power:
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Autocracy Autocracies are governments where one individual ultimately holds all power. This category includes
absolute monarchy absolute monarchies as well as republican
dictatorships with an all-powerful president or other central figure.
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Oligarchy Oligarchies are governments where political power is held by a small group of individuals who share similar interests with each other. A common type of oligarchy is
plutocracy, where the small group of powerful individuals is composed of the wealthiest members of society.
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Democracy Democracies are governments were the
people as a whole - not just some of them - hold political power. There are two major kinds of democracy:
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Representative democracy, where the people elect representatives every few years to make governmental decisions on their behalf. This is the dominant form of government in the world today.
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Direct democracy, where the people vote on governmental decisions directly.
The line between some of the above forms of government can sometimes be ambiguous. For example, during the 19th century, most self-proclaimed "democracies" restricted voting rights to a minority of the population (e.g. property-owning males). This could qualify them as oligarchies rather than democracies. On the other hand, the voting minority was often quite large (20-30% of the population) and its members did not form the compact group with common interests that is the hallmark of most oligarchies. Thus, this form of government occupied a space between democracy and oligarchy as they are understood today.
Reasons for government
There are a wide range of theories about the reasons for establishing governments. The four major ones are briefly described below. Note that they do not always fully oppose each other - it is possible for a person to subscribe to a combination of ideas from two or more of these theories.
Greed and oppression
Many political philosophies that are opposed to the existence of a government (such as
Anarchism, 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 petty despots who took, by force, certain patches of land as their own (and began exercising authority over the people living on that land). Thus, it is argued that governments exist to enforce the will of the strong and oppress the weak.
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 "
Bellum omnium contra omnes 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
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 - both in the sense of a definition of "rights", and in the sense of listing which rights are natural. 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.
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. The social contract theory holds that governments are created by the people in order to provide for collective needs (such as safety from crime, poverty, illiteracy) 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.
Governmental operations
{{main|government operations}}
Governments concern themselves with regulating and administering many areas of human activity, such as
trade,
education,
medicine,
entertainment, and
war.
Enforcement of power
Governments use a variety of methods to maintain the established order, such as
Covert#government_secrecy secrecy,
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
deity deities, providing benefits to
elites, holding
elections for important posts within the state, limiting the power of the state through
laws and
constitutions (see also
Bill of Rights) and appealing to
nationalism. Different political ideologies hold different ideas on what the government should or should not do.
Territory
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 entity 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 diplomatic negotiations).
Size of government
''Main articles:
government ownership,
government spending''
The scale to which government should exist and operate in the world is a matter of debate. Government spending in
developed countries varies considerably but generally makes up between about 30% and 70% of their
Gross domestic product GDP. One major exception is the United States, where central government spending takes up less than 20% of GDP.
See also
{{wikiquote}}
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Anarchism
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Civics
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Conspiracy theories
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Constitution
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Democracy
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Bipartidism
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Federation
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Forms of government
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Governor
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government ownership
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government simulation
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Head of State
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Leader
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Minority government
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Politics
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Political corruption
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Premier
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Purpose of government
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Ruler
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Statesman
Relevant lists
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List of democracy and elections-related topics
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List of fictional governments
Category:Government
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bs:Vlada
ca:Govern
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de:Regierung
es:Gobierno
eo:Registaro
fr:Gouvernement
he:ממשלה
hi:सरकार
id:Pemerintah
is:RÃkisstjórn
it:Governo
ja:政府
ko:ì •ë¶€
lb:Regierung
lt:VyriausybÄ—
mi:KÄ?wanatanga
ms:Kerajaan
nl:Regering
nn:styresmakt
pl:Rada Ministrów
simple:government
yi:×¨×¢×’×™×¨×•× ×’
sl:Vladavina
th:รั�บาล
tl:Pamahalaan
vi:ChÃnh phủ
zh:政府
{{sisterlinkswp|Category:Government}}
{{commonscat|Government}}
{{catmore}}
Category:Social institutions
Category:Politics
Category:Determinants of health
bg:КатегориÑ?:Държавно управление
de:Kategorie:Behörde
sr:Категорија:Влада
fr:Catégorie:Gouvernement
nl:Categorie:Overheid
no:Kategori:Myndigheter
ru:КатегориÑ?:ГоÑ?ударÑ?тво
sk:Kategória:Vláda
zh:Category:政府
uk:КатегоріÑ?:Держава
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