Government: Definition, Forms, and Purpose.  

 

SS6CG4 The student will compare and contrast various forms of government. a. Describe the ways government systems distribute power: unitary, confederation, and federal. b. Explain how governments determine citizen participation: autocratic, oligarchic, and democratic. c. Describe the two predominant forms of democratic governments: parliamentary and presidential.

SS6CG5 The student will explain the structure of modern European governments.

a. Compare the parliamentary system of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (United Kingdom), the federal system of the Federal Republic of Germany (Germany), and the federation of the Russian Federation (Russia), distinguishing the form of leadership and the role of the citizen in terms of voting and personal freedoms. b. Describe the purpose of the European Union and the relationship between member nations.

Cartoon Analysis 1. Who does the giant represent? 2. What kind of clothing is the giant wearing? 3. What is the giant holding in his hands? 4. What kind of clothing are the people wearing? 5. What are the people holding in their hands? 6. What is the giant complaining about? 7. What do you think the relationship between the giant and the

people may have been like until this moment? 8. What is the overall message of this cartoon?

Why Government?

Thomas Hobbes

Starting in the 1600s, European philosophers and scholars began debating the question of who should govern a nation. As the absolute rule of kings weakened, Enlightenment philosophers argued for different forms of democracy.

In 1649, a civil war broke out over who would rule England—Parliament or King Charles I. The war ended with the beheading of the king. Shortly after Charles was executed, an English philosopher, Thomas

Hobbes (1588–1679), wrote Leviathan, a defense of the absolute power of kings. The title of the book referred to a leviathan, a mythological, whale-like sea monster that devoured whole ships. Hobbes likened the leviathan to government, a powerful state created to impose order.

Hobbes began Leviathan by describing the “state of nature” where all individuals were naturally equal. Every person was free to do what he or she needed to do to survive. As a result, everyone suffered from “continued fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man [was] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

In the state of nature, there were no laws or anyone to enforce them. The only way out of this situation, Hobbes said, was for individuals to create some supreme power to impose peace on everyone.

Hobbes asserted that the people agreed among themselves to “lay down” their natural rights of equality and freedom and give absolute power to a sovereign. The sovereign, created by the people, might be a person or a group. The sovereign would make and enforce the laws to secure a peaceful society, making life, liberty, and property possible. Hobbes called this agreement the “social contract.”

Hobbes believed that a government headed by a king was the best form that the sovereign could take. Placing all power in the hands of a king would mean more resolute and consistent exercise of political authority, Hobbes argued. Hobbes also maintained that the social contract was an agreement only among the people and not between them and their king. Once the people had given absolute power to the king, they had no right to revolt against him. Hobbes wrote, the individual should obey the king or choose death.

Why Government?  

Locke: The Reluctant Democrat

John Locke (1632–1704) was born shortly before the English Civil War. Locke studied science and medicine at Oxford University and became a professor there.

In 1690, Locke published his Two Treatises of Government. He generally agreed with Hobbes about the brutality of the state of nature, which required a social contract to assure peace. But he disagreed with Hobbes on two major points.

First, Locke argued that natural rights such as life, liberty, and property existed in the state of nature and could never be taken away or even voluntarily given up by individuals. These rights were “inalienable” (impossible to surrender). Locke also disagreed with Hobbes about the social contract. For him, it was not just an agreement among the people, but between them and the sovereign (preferably a king).

According to Locke, the natural rights of individuals limited the power of the king. The king did not hold absolute power, as Hobbes had said, but acted only to enforce and protect the natural rights of the people. If a sovereign violated these rights, the social contract was broken, and the people had the right to revolt and establish a new government.

Although Locke spoke out for freedom of thought, speech, and religion, he believed property to be the most important natural right. He declared that owners may do whatever they want with their property as long as they do not invade the rights of others. Government, he said, was mainly necessary to promote the “public good,” that is to protect property and encourage commerce and little else. “Govern lightly,” Locke said.

Locke favored a representative government such as the English Parliament, which had a hereditary House of Lords and an elected House of Commons. But he wanted representatives to be only men of property and business. Consequently, only adult male property owners should have the right to vote. Locke was reluctant to allow the propertyless masses of people to participate in government because he believed that they were unfit.

The supreme authority of government, Locke said, should reside in the law-making legislature, like England’s Parliament. The executive (prime minister) and courts would be creations of the legislature and under its authority.

 

Why Government?  

Rousseau: The Extreme Democrat

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He traveled in France and Italy, educating himself.

In 1751, he won an essay contest. His view that man was naturally good and was corrupted by society made him a celebrity in the French salons where artists, scientists, and writers gathered to discuss the latest ideas.

A few years later he published another essay in which he described savages in a state of nature as free, equal, peaceful, and happy. When

people began to claim ownership of property, Rousseau argued, inequality, murder, and war resulted.

According to Rousseau, the powerful rich stole the land belonging to everyone and fooled the common people into accepting them as rulers. Rousseau concluded that the social contract was not a willing agreement, as Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu had believed, but a fraud against the people committed by the rich.

In 1762, Rousseau published his most important work on political theory, The Social Contract. His opening line is still striking today: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” Rousseau agreed with Locke that the individual should never be forced to give up his or her natural rights to a king.

The problem in the state of nature, Rousseau said, was to find a way to protect everyone’s life, liberty, and property while each person remained free. Rousseau’s solution was for people to enter into a social contract. They would give up all their rights, not to a king, but to “the whole community,” all the people. He called all the people the “sovereign,” a term used by Hobbes to mainly refer to a king. The people then exercised their “general will” to make laws for the “public good.”

Rousseau argued that the general will of the people could not be decided by elected representatives. He believed in a direct democracy in which everyone voted to express the general will and to make the laws of the land. Rousseau had in mind a democracy on a small scale, a city-state like his native Geneva.

In Rousseau’s democracy, anyone who disobeyed the general will of the people “will be forced to be free.” He believed that citizens must obey the laws or be forced to do so as long as they remained a resident of the state. This is a “civil state,” Rousseau says, where security, justice, liberty, and property are protected and enjoyed by all.

All political power, according to Rousseau, must reside with the people, exercising their general will. There can be no separation of powers, as Montesquieu proposed. The people, meeting together, will deliberate individually on laws and then by majority vote find the general will.

Why Government?  

Montesquieu: The Balanced Democrat

When Charles Montesquieu (1689–1755) was born, France was ruled by an absolute king, Louis XIV. Montesquieu was born into a noble family and educated in the law. He traveled extensively throughout Europe, including England, where he studied the Parliament. In 1722, he wrote a book, ridiculing the reign of Louis XIV and the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.

Montesquieu published his greatest work, The Spirit of the Laws, in 1748. Unlike Hobbes and Locke, Montesquieu believed that in the state of nature individuals were so fearful that they avoided violence and war. The need for food, Montesquieu said, caused the timid humans to

associate with others and seek to live in a society. “As soon as man enters into a state of society,” Montesquieu wrote, “he loses the sense of his weakness, equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.”

Montesquieu did not describe a social contract as such. But he said that the state of war among individuals and nations led to human laws and government.

Montesquieu wrote that the main purpose of government is to maintain law and order, political liberty, and the property of the individual. Montesquieu opposed the absolute monarchy of his home country and favored the English system as the best model of government.

Montesquieu somewhat misinterpreted how political power was actually exercised in England. When he wrote The Spirit of the Laws, power was concentrated pretty much in Parliament, the national legislature. Montesquieu thought he saw a separation and balancing of the powers of government in England.

Montesquieu viewed the English king as exercising executive power balanced by the law-making Parliament, which was itself divided into the House of Lords and the House of Commons, each checking the other. Then, the executive and legislative branches were still further balanced by an independent court system.

Montesquieu concluded that the best form of government was one in which the legislative, executive, and judicial powers were separate and kept each other in check to prevent any branch from becoming too powerful. He believed that uniting these powers, as in the monarchy of Louis XIV, would lead to despotism. While Montesquieu’s separation of powers theory did not accurately describe the government of England, Americans later adopted it as the foundation of the U.S. Constitution.

Why Government? Name: Use the reading material to complete the Graphic Organizers.  

 

 Thomas Hobbes John Locke

State of Nature

What did it look like? What’s happening?

What’s not happening?

Social Contract

Who is involved? What is being exchanged?

Government

W ? What best

form?

hat is the purpose is the

Natural Rights

are they available to? What are they? Who

Why Government? Name: Use the reading material to complete the Graphic Organizers.  

 

 

 

Charles Montesquieu Jean-Jacques Rousseau

State of Nature

What did it look like? What’s happening?

What’s not happening?

Social Contract

Who is involved? What is being exchanged?

Government

W ? What best

form?

hat is the purpose is the

Natural Rights

are they available to? What are they? Who

Why Government?  

Discussion Questions

1. Of the four scholars discussed in the reading, which two do you think differed the most? Why?

2. Which of the forms of government proposed by these scholars do you think is best? Why?

3. What form of government would you prefer to live in? Why?

Who Rules? Name:

Who Rules? Name:

Types of Governments. What kinds of governments exist? What kinds of leaders can be in charge of a

country? Think about everything you’ve ever heard of or learned and add it to this mind map. Circle each

idea you add and draw a line to connect it to the main phrase (or to another idea you added). Keep

brainstorming until you run out of room or time.

Anticipation Activity – Mind Map

Types of Governments. What kinds of governments exist? What kinds of leaders can be in charge of a

country? Think about everything you’ve ever heard of or learned and add it to this mind map. Circle each

idea you add and draw a line to connect it to the main phrase (or to another idea you added). Keep

brainstorming until you run out of room or time.

Anticipation Activity – Mind Map

Who Rules? Name:

Reading p.1

Someone’s Got to Be In Charge

If you compared all the governments in the world, you would find one

thing in common: Someone is in charge. The question is, who? There

are many different forms of government. Some have one leader who

has all the control. Others give power to the people. Here are some

forms of government that exist (or have existed) in the world:

Me, Myself, and I

An autocracy is a government in which one person has all the

power. There are two main types of autocracy: a monarchy and a

dictatorship.

In a monarchy, a king or queen rules the country. The king or

queen is known as a monarch. Monarchs usually come to power

through their family line: The current king or queen’s oldest child

becomes the next king or queen. In some monarchies, especially

those in historical times, the monarch held all the power and had

the final say over the government. In modern times, monarchs

usually share power with other parts of government. Often they are

also subject to the country’s constitution.

A dictatorship is a form of government where one leader has

absolute control over citizens’ lives. If there is a constitution, the

dictator has control over that, too—so it doesn’t mean much.

Although other parts of the government may exist, such as courts or

a lawmaking body, these branches always do what the dictator

wants them to do. They do not represent citizens.

Power to the People!

In a democracy, citizens hold the political power. There are two

fundamental types of democracies:

In a representative democracy, citizens elect leaders to

represent their rights and interests in government. The elected

leaders, or representatives, do the day-to-day work of governing

the country: They consider the issues, work to find solutions, pass

laws, and do all of the other things necessary to keep a country

going. Citizens hold the ultimate power, though, because if they

don’t like what their representatives are doing, they can vote in new

ones!

In a direct democracy, there are no representatives. Citizens are

directly involved in the day-to-day work of governing the country.

Citizens might be required to participate in lawmaking or act as

judges, for example. The best example of this was in the ancient

Greek city-state called Athens. Most modern countries are too large

for a direct democracy to work.

King Harald V of Norway with his wife, Queen Sonja. Norway is a constitutional monarchy. The king is the head of state and has a mainly ceremonial role. The actual government is a democracy.

A man votes in Peru.

The Peruvian legislature

Who Rules? Name:

Reading p.2

We, Ourselves, and… um… Us

In an oligarchy (OH-lih-gar-kee), a small group of people has all

the power. Oligarchy is a Greek word that means “rule by a few.”

Sometimes this means that only a certain group has political

rights, such as members of one political party, one social class, or

one race. For example, in some societies, only noble families who

owned land could participate in politics. An oligarchy can also

mean that a few people control the country. For example, a

junta is a small group of people—usually military officers—who

rule a country after taking it over by force. A junta often operates

much like a dictatorship, except that several people share power.

Religious Rule

A theocracy is a government that recognizes God or a divine being

as the ultimate authority. (“Theo” is a Greek word that means god.)

In a theocracy, religious law is used to settle disputes and rule the

people. A theocracy can also be a democracy, dictatorship, monarchy,

or just about any other kind of government. For example, the

Republic of Iran recognizes Islamic law, but Iran’s citizens vote to

elect their leaders. Modern theocracies are usually found in countries

where the population is strongly religious.

Rule by None

In an anarchy, nobody is in control—or everyone is, depending on how

you look at it. Sometimes the word anarchy is used to refer to an out-of-

control mob. When it comes to government, anarchy would be one way

to describe the human state of existence before any governments

developed. It would be similar to the way animals live in the wild, with

everyone looking out for themselves. Today, people who call themselves

anarchists usually believe that people should be allowed to freely

associate together without being subject to any nation or government.

There are no countries that have anarchy as their form of government.

Where would you put theocracy on this chart?

From 1962 to 2011, Myanmar (also known as Burma) was ruled by a military junta that was condemned by the world for its human rights violations.

Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which was tied to the Catholic church and lasted from the 10th—19th century.

A An A inside a circle is the traditional symbol for anarchy.

Who Rules? Name:

Worksheet p.1

A. Identify That Government! Identify the form(s) of government that each country has or had.

Form of government:

______________________

Forms of government:

______________________

and

______________________

Forms of government:

______________________

and

______________________

Forms of government:

______________________

and

______________________

Forms of government:

______________________

and

______________________

Form of government:

______________________

Who Rules? Name:

Worksheet p.2

C. Vocabulary. Solve the crossword puzzle using vocabulary from the reading.

Across

3. Type of democracy where citizens elect

leaders to represent them in government

7. A small group that rules a country after

taking it over by force

9. One person has all the power

10. Type of democracy where citizens are

involved in day-to-day government

Down

1. Recognizes God as the ultimate authority

in government and law

2. One leader has absolute control over

citizens’ lives

4. Citizens hold the political power

5. A small group of people has all the power

6. People are not subject to any nation or

government

8. A king or queen rules the country

1

2

3

4 6 5

7

8

10

9

B. True or False? Use what you learned in the reading and in Exercise A to fill in the chart below.

Who Rules?

Active Participation Master

** TEACHER GUIDE **

A or B Active Participation Activity. Read each statement aloud, or project and uncover each

statement individually. Have the class answer “A” or “B” as a chorus. Listen for a mix of answers,

indicating confusion. Use each question as a chance to quickly review concepts before moving on.

A B

1. One person is in charge. Autocracy Democracy

2. Citizens often have no rights. Democracy Dictatorship

3. Can exist with other forms of

government Dictatorship Theocracy

4. Led by a king or queen Monarchy Oligarchy

5. Nobody is in charge Monarchy Anarchy

6. Those in charge are military members

who took over by force Junta Democracy

7. Leader often shares power with other

parts of government Monarchy Dictatorship

8. Democracy where citizens elect others

to serve in government Direct Representative

9. Citizens vote to elect their leaders. Democracy Autocracy

10. A small group rules the country Oligarchy Democracy

11. People do not answer to any leader

or government Oligarchy Anarchy

12. God and religious law are the

government’s authority Theocracy Anarchy

13. The group with power can be based

on race or social class Monarchy Oligarchy

14. Democracy where citizens participate

in lawmaking themselves Direct Representative

 

 

differences differences

Presidential Democracy                       Parliamentary Democracy

Similarities

 

 

 

 

Government Basics

 

 

Unitary System

ofGovernment

Definition: Example(s):

Picture: Video Summary:

Federal System

ofGovernment

Definition: Example(s):

Picture: Video Summary:

ConfederalSystem

ofGovernment

(Confederation)

Definition: Example(s):

Picture: Video Summary:

 

 

 

   

© 2014 Brain Wrinkles

System Citizen Participation

Democracy Type

Leadership Citizens’ Rights

United Kingdom

Germany

Russia

 

United Kingdom Germany RussiaHow does the government distribute power? (Unitary, Federal, or Confederation)

Can citizens participate in government? (autocratic, oligarchic, or democratic)

Parliamentary or Presidential?

What type of leader?(Prime Minister or President or additional leaders)

What type of economicsystem? (command, market, traditional, or mixed)

Place each country on the economic continuum.

Command Economy Market Economy

Name:_________________________

 

  

1. What do all three countries have in common? Give at least 2 example.    

2. What are the differences between them? Give at least 2 examples.    

3. Which country has the most economic freedom?   

4. Which country has the least economic freedom?   

5. Which country has a government most like the United States?   

6. Which country has an economic system most like the United States?