Governments and Governing Flashcards
The body of people and institutions that make and enforce laws for society.
Governments
*Rules made by any social organization other than
government apply, and are intended to apply,
only to members of that organization.
*On the other hand, the rules of the government
apply, and are intended to apply, to all members
of the society
Comprehensive Authority
*Membership in most social organizations other
than government is voluntary; that is, people
became members of such an organization and
place themselves under its rules only by
conscious choice.
*Membership in a nation, however, is largely
involuntary; that is, most people initially become
citizens of a nation and subject to its rules
without any deliberate choice or conscious acts.
Involuntary Membership
Rules are more binding upon all members of a society than the rules of all other organizations.
In any conflict between the laws of government and the rules of a private organization, there is a general agreement that government laws should prevail.
Authoritative Rules
Government can impose all those sanctions as well, but it can also
impose two additional sanctions forbidden to private organizations.
It can send lawbreakers to prison, and it can take their lives.
Legitimate Monopoly of Overwhelming Force
The processes of politics and government
have some instructive similarities to their
counterparts in private organizations, but
governments operate in such a different
atmosphere and for such greater stakes.
Highest Stakes
The process of forming and expressing demands by political interest groups and transmitting the demands to government authorities
Interest articulation
The state of a person or group in government policy: something of value to be gained or lost by what the government does or not does do
Political Interest
The process of
combining the demands of different
interest groups into public policies
Interest Aggregation
The threat or imposition of force and other
sanctions to get compliance.
Coercion
(Nations’ Common Characteristic) Each of the world’s nations is located on a particular area of the earth’s surface and has definite, generally recognized boundaries that do not overlap those of any other nation.
Particular Territory
(Nations’ Common Characteristic) Each nation regards certain people as its citizens and all others as
aliens.
Definite Population
is a person who has the legal status of being a full member of
a particular nation.
Citizen
is a person who is neither a citizen or national of the nations in which he or she is present.
Alien
(Nations’ Common Characteristic) Each nation has an officially designated set of persons and
institutions authorized to make and enforce laws for all people within its territory.
Government
Are those in which the national
governments are legally supreme over regional and local governments.
Unitary Government
Are those in which power is formally divided between the national government and certain
regional governments, each of which is legally supreme in its sphere.
Federal Government
(Nations’ Common Characteristic) Each
nation, large or small, strong or weak, has
supreme legal authority over its own
affairs and in that respect is fully equal to
every other nation.
Formal Independence
The people’s psychological attachment to
a particular nation, based upon a common
history, common language, and literature,
common culture, and a desire for political
independence.
Nationalism
Nations’ two main ways of dying
- Be conquered and totally absorbed by another nation.
- The other is to break up into a number of new nations
Penalties that a group can impose on those who break its rules
Sanctions
A society with no government
Anarchy
The Birth of Nations
- Winning a war of independence
- Granted independence by their former colonial masters
- Declaring themselves to be independent from previous unions
The general belief of the members of a society that the government’s powers to make and enforce rules are proper, lawful, and entitled to obedience
Legitimacy
The basic duty of any government
Ensure the nation’s survival
The amount the winners win is the same as the amount the losers lose
Zero-sum game
Transferred most governing powers to the republics but reserved some powers of economic and foreign policy coordination for the central government.
Treaty of Union
