Chapter 1: What is Government and What Does it do?

Question 1

According to the textbook, what are the defining features of “government”?

Answer 1

Government is a set of institutions that endures over time and that, in relation to the people of a particular territory, authoritatively, makes and enforces laws.

Question 2

Make sure to know the basic definitions of these types of governing institutions: legislature, executive branch, bureaucratic agencies, judicial branch, and courts

Answer 2

o Legislative Branch, called Congress, which is composed of a Senate and House of Representatives

o Executive branch, including the offices of the President and Vice President, as well as hundreds of bureaucratic agencies

o Judicial branch (or courts), including the Supreme Court of the United States and many lower federal courts.

Question 3

What is the name of the legislature of the government of the State of Georgia?

Answer 3

Georgia General Assembly

Question 4

What is the name of the legislature of the federal government of the United States?

Answer 4

Congress

Question 5

What are the names of the two chambers of the legislature of the government of the State of Georgia?

Answer 5

o Senate

o House of Representatives

Question 6

What are the names of the two chambers of the legislature of the federal government of the United States?

Answer 6

o Senate

o House of Representatives

Question 7

o Federalism

Answer 7

Principle of government that means authority is partly divided and partly shared between the federal government and the state government.

Question 8

o Separation of power

Answer 8

Principle of government that means legislative, executive, and judicial powers are exercised by 3 separate branches of government consisting of distinct institutions.

Question 9

How widely used is the system of federalism?

Answer 9

Most countries are not governed by a system of federalism

Question 10

What are the branches of government and what general functions do they perform?

Answer 10

o Legislative – Makes laws (Congress, comprised of the House of Representatives and Senate)

o Executive – Put laws into effect (Can use physical force by military or police)

o Judicial – Branch of government, consisting of law

Question 11

What is bureaucratic agency “lawmaking”? Why does this seemingly deviate from the separation of powers principle?

Answer 11

Units with executive branch responsible for implementing specific public services and policies. Not only do they enforce laws but they also make rules called regulations

Question 12

What are executive orders?

Answer 12

Commands with the force of law enacted by presidents (national) or governors (state).

Question 13

What is Max Weber’s definition of government?

Answer 13

They have a “monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.”

Question 14

What does it mean to be “sovereign”? Whom (or what) is considered to be sovereign in the United States?

Answer 14

o Sovereignty – To be the highest authority to rule over a given territory.

o The people themselves

Question 15

Make sure to know and understand the meaning of “popular sovereignty” as defined by the textbook.

Answer 15

Idea that people of a particular territory have the highest authority to rule over the territory; and, thus, government authority is legitimate only if it derives consent from the people.

Question 16

According to the textbook, what was Robert Dahl’s formulation of power as a relational influence (i.e., as in A having power over B)?

Answer 16

o Affecting Hearts and Minds

o Using the power of the purse as positive and negative incentives

Question 17

Make sure to know and understand these ways government exercises relational power over the people: affecting hearts and minds, power of the purse, power of the sword, positive incentives or “carrots,” and negative incentives or “sticks”.

Answer 17

o Hearts and Minds – People persuaded, or genuinely feel a desire or duty, to do what they otherwise wouldn’t

o Power of Purse –

1. Positive incentive – Motivating behavior by providing a benefit for action
2. Negative incentive – Threatening punishment to deter disobedience

o Power of Sword – Government’s ability to influence behavior through physical force (Military, Police)

Question 18

What do the power of the sword and the power of the purse have to do with the concept of separation of powers in the American government?

Answer 18

Different branches of government engage in making, enforcing, and judging the law

Question 19

• According to the textbook, one reason governments exercise power is in order to provide “public goods.” What are public goods (as defined by the textbook, following a technical definition commonly used by economists)? How do they differ from so-called “private goods”?

Answer 19

o Governments exercise the power to prevent free-riding and, therefore, overcome collective action problems

o Public Goods – Goods once provided are non-excludable

o Private Goods – Goods that are excludable

Question 20

What does the provision of public goods have to do with collective action problems and free riding?

Answer 20

Individuals will have a strong temptation to enjoy a public good without bearing part of the burden of providing it. When attempts at free riding threaten to prevent a group from providing a public good, it is called a collective action problem.