GOVERNMENT

INTRODUCTION
 WHAT IS GOVERNMENT?

A government is an organization which

makes and administers the rules for a group of
people in a definite territory.
Rules are usually a constitutionplus
laws.
The group is called a nation.
 WHAT DOES A GOVERNMENT DO?

It provides important SERVICES to their citizens

-Education
-Highways
-Protection
-Regulation
It enables us to get along with other nations
-protection against aggression via DEFENSE forces
-working for common GOALS peace and a higher
standard of living.
 EACH CITIZEN SHOULD CONSIDER

How much should the government do for its citizens?

Is it doing it fairly and equally?
Who can make and change the laws?
How many checks and balances are there to power?
Who governs nations i.e. how valid is sovereignty?
How can our relations with other nations be improved?
Are we spending the right amount for defense? For
foreign aid?
How are disputes with other nations settled.
 FREEDOM and EQUALITY

Order rests on the balance between

freedom and equality.
Freedomthe rights of the individual are
most important
Equalityall individuals have the right to
be dealt with in the same way
There are different kinds of F and E.
The most important types are intellectual
and economic.
 Intellectual Freedomthe right of individuals
to believe in and think about what they wish
to.
Intellectual Equalitythe right of everyone in
society to be protected by law from
unacceptable expressions of intellectual
freedom.
Economic Freedomthe right of individuals
to own property, run a business, invest money,
or advertise a product.
Economic Equalitythe right of everyone in
society to have an adequate level of food,
clothing, and shelter.
 THE STRUCTURE

There are three branches: Legislative Branch

(makes laws), Executive Branch (carries out
laws), and Judicial Branch (interprets and
applies laws).
 Example: Suppose that in your community
there is a by-law which limits skateboarding to
certain public places. The by-law states that
no skateboarding is to occur on sidewalks or
parking lots. When your town or city council
passed this by-law they were acting as the
legislative branch of government. When by-
law officers visit parking lots and sidewalks to
catch skateboarders they are acting as the
executive branch, and when the local court
prosecutes the guilty skateboarders they are
acting as the judicial branch of the local
government.