Government

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For the government of parliamentary systems, see Executive (government).

A government is "the organization, that is the governing authority of a political unit,"^[1] "the ruling power in a political society,"^[2] and the apparatus through which a governing body functions and exercises authority.^[3] "Government, with the authority to make laws, to adjudicate disputes, and to issue administrative decisions, and with a monopoly of authorized force where it fails to persuade, is an indispensable means, proximately, to the peace of communal life."^[4] "A compulsory territorial monopolist of protection and jurisdiction equipped with the power to tax without unanimous consent."^[5] Statist theorists maintain that the necessity of government derives from the fact that the people need to live in communities, yet personal autonomy must be constrained in these communities.

A state or province of sufficient size and complexity will have different layers or levels of government: local, regional and national.

Contents 1 Origin of government 1.1 Fundamental purpose of government 1.1.1 Security (Internal) 1.1.2 Economic security 1.1.3 Social security 1.1.4 Health care 1.1.5 Environmental security 1.1.6 Education 2 Positive aspects of government 2.1 Support for democracy 2.2 Religion 3 Negative aspects of government 3.1 War 4 Synopsis 5 Notes 6 References 7 Additional references 8 See also 8.1 Related topics

Origin of government

For many thousands of years when people were hunter-gatherers and small scale farmers, humans lived in small, "relatively non-hierarchical" and mostly self-sufficient communities. However, the human ability to precisely communicate abstract, learned information allowed humans to become ever more effective at agriculture and that allowed for ever increasing population densities.^[6] David Christian explains how this resulted in states with laws and governments:

The exact moment and place that the phenomenon of human government developed is lost in time; however, history does record the formations of very early governments. About 5,000 years ago, the first small city-states appeared.^[6] By the third to second millenniums BC, some of these had developed into larger governed areas: Sumer, Ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization, and the Yellow River Civilization.

States formed as the results of a positive feedback loop where population growth results in increased information exchange which results in innovation which results in increased resources which results in further population growth.^[7][8] The role of cities in the feedback loop is important. Cities became the primary conduits for the dramatic increases in information exchange that allowed for large and densely packed populations to form, and because cities concentrated knowledge, they also ended up concentrating power.^[9][10] "Increasing population density in farming regions provided the demographic and physical raw materials used to construct the first cities and states, and increasing congestion provided much of the motivation for creating states."^[11]

Fundamental purpose of government

The fundamental purpose of government is the maintenance of basic security and public order — without which individuals cannot attempt to find happiness.^[12] The philosopher Thomas Hobbes figured that people, as rational animals, saw submission to a government dominated by a sovereign as preferable to anarchy.^[13][14]

People in a community create and submit to government for the purpose of establishing for themselves, safety and public order.^{[15][14][16][17]}

Security (Internal)

One of the most important role of the government is to provide security, and to enforce Law. The instruments that are used for this purpose are Police, the management of Identity documents, etc.

Economic security

Increasing complexities in society resulted in the formations of governments, but the increases in complexity didn't stop. As the complexity and interdependency's of human communities moved forward, economies began to dominate the human experience enough for an individual's survival potential to be affected substantially by the region's economy. Governments were originally created for the purpose of increasing people's survival potentials, and in that same purpose, governments became involved in manipulating and managing regional economies.^[18] One of a great many examples would be Wang Mang's attempt to reform the currency in favor of the peasants and poor in ancient China.^[19]

At a bare minimum, government ensures that money's value will not be undermined by prohibiting counterfeiting, but in almost all societies—including capitalist ones—governments attempt to regulate many more aspects of their economies.^[20] However, very often, government involvement in a national economy has more than just a purpose of stabilizing it for the benefit of the people. Often, the members of government shape the government's economic policies for their own benefits. This will be discussed shortly.

Social security

Social security is related to economic security. Throughout most of human history, parents prepared for their old age by producing enough children to ensure that some of them would survive long enough to take care of the parents in their old age.^[21] In modern, relatively high-income societies, a mixed approach is taken where the government shares a substantial responsibility of taking care of the elderly.^[21]

This is not the case everywhere since there are still many countries where social security through having many children is the norm. Although social security is a relatively recent phenomenon, prevalent mostly in developed countries, it deserves mention because the existence of social security substantially changes reproductive behavior in a society, and it has an impact on reducing the cycle of poverty.^[21] By reducing the cycle of poverty, government creates a self-reinforcing cycle where people see the government as friend both because of the financial support they receive late in their lives, but also because of the overall reduction in national poverty due to the government's social security policies--which then adds to public support for social security.^[22]

Health care

Governments play a major role (with importance varying from a country to another) in contributing to the health of the citizens. This role includes funding (directly or indirectly via subsidies) and even managing the health care system. It also intervene by elaborating Laws aiming at protecting the health of the citizens.

Environmental security

Governments play a crucial role in managing environmental public goods such as the atmosphere, forests and water bodies. Governments are valuable institutions for resolving problems involving these public goods at both the local and global scales (e.g., climate change, deforestation, overfishing). Although in recent decades the economic market has been championed by certain quarters as a suitable mechanism for managing environmental entities, markets have serious failures and governmental intervention and regulation and the rule of law is still required for the proper, just and sustainable management of the environment.

Education

The government plays a central role in participating to the education of the citizens. In particular it finances (directly or via subsidizing) a huge portion of the educational system (Schools, Universities, continuous education).

Positive aspects of government

Governments vary greatly, and the situation of citizens within their governments can vary greatly from person to person. For many people, government is seen as a positive force.

Support for democracy

Government, especially in democratic and republican forms, can be seen as the entity for a sovereign people to establish the type of society, laws and national objectives that are desired collectively. A government so created and maintained will tend to be quite friendly toward those who created and maintain it.

Religion

Government can benefit or suffer from religion, as religion can benefit or suffer from government. While governments can threaten people with physical harm for observed violations of the law, religion often provides a psychological disincentive for socially destructive or anti-government actions.^[23][24] Religion can also give people a sense of peace and resolve even when they are in trying circumstances, and when an individual's religious beliefs are aligned with the government's, that person will tend to see government as a friend—especially during religious controversies. Although, multiculturalism makes this relevant to a far lesser degree.

Negative aspects of government

Since the positions of individuals with respect to their governments can vary, there are people who see a government or governments as negative.

War

In the most basic sense, a people of one nation will see the government of another nation as the enemy when the two nations are at war. For example, the people of Carthage saw the Roman government as the enemy during the Punic wars.^[25]

Synopsis

Government is sometimes an enemy and sometimes a friend of the citizens of this government. Government exalts some of its citizens and oppresses others. At times, governments can be aligned with its citizens religious, economic and social views, and at other times—misaligned.

The role of government in the lives of people has expanded significantly during human history. Government's role has gone from providing basic security to concern in religious affairs to control of national economies and eventually to providing lifelong social security. As societies have become more complex, governments have become likewise more complex, powerful and, in some cases, intrusive. The controversies over how large, how powerful and how intrusive governments should become will likely continue for the remainder of human history.

Notes

References

• General Zhaoyun (2004-08-04). "WANG MANG: China History Forum". China History Forum. Retrieved on 2007-11-02.

• "LoveToKnow Classic Encyclopedia". LoveToKnow Corp. (1911). Retrieved on 2007-12-04.

• Miller, George A.; Christiane Fellbaum, and Randee Tengi, and Pamela Wakefield, and Rajesh Poddar, and Helen Langone, and Benjamin Haskell (2006). "WordNet Search 3.0". WordNet a lexical database for the English language. Princeton University/Cognitive Science Laboratory /221 Nassau St./ Princeton, NJ 08542. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.

Additional references

• Higham, Charles F. W. (2004). "Indus Valley Civilization". Ancient and Medieval History Online. New York: Facts On File, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.

• Kenoyer, J. M. Ancient Cities of the Indus Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998
• Possehl, Gregory L. Harappan Civilization: A Recent Perspective. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993
• Indus Age: The Writing System. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996
• “Revolution in the Urban Revolution: The Emergence of Indus Urbanisation,” Annual Review of Anthropology 19 (1990): 261–282.

• Higham, Charles F. W. (2004). "History of ancient and medieval Asia". Ancient and Medieval History Online. New York: Facts On File, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.

See also

Related topics