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Government

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Politics and government

   A government is a body that has the authority to make and the 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 ultimately derived from the Greek κυβερνᾶν
   (kybernan), which means "to steer".

   Typically, "the government" refers to the executive function of the
   state. In many countries (particularly those having parliamentary
   systems), the government refers to the executive branch of government
   or a specifically named executive, such as the Blair government
   (compare to the administration as in the Bush administration in U.S.
   usage). In countries using the Westminster system, the party in
   government will also usually control the legislature.

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:
     * Autocracies are governments where one individual ultimately holds
       all power. This category includes absolute monarchies as well as
       dictatorships with an all-powerful president or other central
       figure.
     * 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.
     * Democracies are governments where the people as a whole - hold
       political power. It may be exercised by them ( direct democracy),
       or through representatives chosen by them ( representative
       democracy).

   The lines 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.

Ideas about the origin of 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.

Force Theory

   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, maintaining and
   protecting the privilege of a ruling class.

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 " 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;
   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. As a result,
   there is some debate between natural rights theorists, ranging from
   modern writers such as Tibor Machan to Enlightenment thinkers such as
   Locke, Kant, or Jefferson.

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

   Governments concern themselves with regulating and administering many
   areas of human activity, such as trade, education, or medicine.
   Governments also employ different methods to maintain the established
   order, such as 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 deities, providing benefits to elites,
   providing shops for important posts within the state, limiting the
   power of the state through laws and constitutions and appealing to
   nationalism. Different political ideologies hold different ideas on
   what the government should or should not do. 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 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
   diplomacy).

Size of government

   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
   GDP. One major exception is the United States, where central government
   spending takes up less than 20% of GDP.^[citation needed]

World Government

   Some speculate that technological changes such as the internet and the
   global English language would bring a World Government into existence.
   Some consider some governments such as the European Commission as
   trends towards such a system. However, others do not see this as
   possible.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
