gov notes unit 1 textbook
₍ᐢ. .ᐢ₎ Chapter 1, Section 2
Forms of Government
Monarchy
the gov is headed by one person (king or queen) who uses the supreme authority (ultimate control etc etc)
Monarchs inherit their position being born into a royal family.
In an absolute monarchy, they have ALL THE POWER. EVERYTHING! They have 0 limittations. Unchecked/Unlimited
Monarchies have been the most common form of rule in world history.
Today though, monarchies are rare. In some nations, such as Saudi Arabia, the royal family still makes use of their ultimate authority.
Most present-day kings and queens, however, are ceremonial heads of state for constitutional monarchies. (ex. britain) The real power lies in another part of government, such as a legislative body.
ex. Spain, Great Britain, and Japan
<aside>
👑These are just a few of the world's 30 constitutional monarchies.
</aside>
Monarchy is an example of autocracy, any form of government in which a single individual—an autocrat—controls most governing decisions.
Placing the bulk of government power in the hands of one person is risky business.
As the British historian Lord Acton once commented, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely." In the modern world, Acton's maxim is most clear in nations under the rule of autocrats called dictators.
<aside>
👑
All absolute monarchies are autocracies but not all autocracies are absolute monarchies
In practice, a constitutional monarchy functions as a democracy
In the historical/symbolic sense, it’s an autocracy (it’s complicated)
</aside>
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is a system of rule in which one person, a dictator, or a small group of people can hold unlimited power over government.
They often achieve power by violently overthrowing a government. They maintain power by force, stifling even peaceful opposition with varying degrees of repression and brutality.
Dictators may claim that they respond to the will of the people or even that they head democratic states.
In reality, most dictators head authoritarian regimes, under which people are subject to various forms of state control.
At its most extreme, authoritarian-ism becomes totalitarianism. Totalitarian governments seek to dominate all aspects of society-the government, the economy, and even people's personal beliefs and actions.
ex. Nazi Germany under Hitler, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, China under Mao Zedong, and North Korea under Kim Jong Il are examples of totalitarian regimes.
Some dictatorships may be led by small groups of people, usually members of the military or the economic elite. This state of affairs is sometimes called an oligarchy, meaning rule by a few, or an aristocracy.
Many dictatorships are secular govern-ments, meaning that their laws and political institutions are independent of religion.
Others, however, are theocracies, or governments under the rule of a small group of religious leaders.
Democracy
The term democracy means "rule by the people."
Strictly speaking, in a pure democracy, the people make major government decisions through a process of majority rule. Whatever the majority of voters wants becomes law
Such was the state of affairs in Athens and other ancient Greek city-states. Athenian democracy was a direct democracy. Citizens met regularly in a popular assembly to discuss issues and vote for leaders. Athenians liked to boast that in their government everyone had equal say.
In truth, Athenian democracy was an elite-based system. Only a small fraction of the male population was eligible to participate in political life.
Neither women nor slaves, who formed the majority of the population, could participate.
Direct democracy works best in small communities, where people are able to meet face to face. For large, industrialized nations, however, direct democracy is an impractical option.
For this reason, most of the world's democracies-the United States included-are republics. A republic is an indirect form of democracy that places political decision making at least one step away from the people. In a republic, the people elect repre-sentatives to make decisions on their behalf.
Still, forms of direct democracy persist within republics. In the United States, for example, a handful of New England towns govern by holding town meetings, in which all townspeople have a say in setting policy.
People often use the terms republic and representative democracy interchangeably to describe the U.S. political system. The main point about a representative democracy is that people are the ultimate source of government authority.
In such a system, elected representatives closely follow the wishes of the people, elections are free and fair, and everyone has equal opportunity to participate in the political process.
In unitary systems, local levels of government may be active and important agencies of rule, but the national government has ultimate authority. It also has the power to change or abolish local governments as it sees fit. In the United Kingdom, for example, the British Parliament still has authority to override and even dismantle the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Scotland.
For example, Congress cannot redraw the boundaries of California to give more land to Oregon and Nevada.
While it is no longer uniquely American, the federal system is still a comparatively uncommon form of government. Only 25 of the world's 190 or so nations have federal systems. Among these are Canada, India, Germany, Mexico, Nigeria, and Brazil which all lead in being in the top populations.
Confederal Systems
In a confederal system independent states join forces by forming a central government, called a confederation.
The states keep full control over their own territories and people.
However, the states delegate limited powers to a central government to pursue areas of common interests, such as providing for national defense and regulating trade.
In its earliest days under the Articles of Confederation, the United States operated as a confederal system. With the exception of the United Arab Emirates and the European Union, present-day confederations are rare due to its instability as a whole.
Presidential v. Parliamentary
People often believe that their government is the only or even the best way of doing things.
But, as the discussion of unitary, federal, and confederal systems shows,there is no one way for a nation to organize power. All governments are born out of unique historical circumstances, developing their own special features and institutions.
This is true, too, for democracy.
Today most countries have adopted some form of democratic government. Even as they follow their own particular paths, the world's .
democracies fall into two types of political systems-presidential and parliamentary.
Presidential Systems
Many of the world's governments are modeled after the presidential system of the United States.
In general, a presidential system is distinguished by having a president that is elected by the people for a limited term of office.
In addition to performing the symbolic duties of a head of state, the president is in charge of the executive branch of government.
He or she appoints cabinet members to oversee major state bureaucracies, executes policy, serves as the head of the armed forces, and is responsible for setting foreign policy and initiating domestic legislation.
A key feature-and an important strength of presidential systems is that the president's powers are balanced by a legislature, which is both popularly elected and independent of the president.
This has important implications for how a president exercises power. Because the president and the legislature are independent of one another, they must work together to get things done.
For example, in the United States, the president may be commander in chief of the armed forces, but only Congress can declare war.
Similarly, Congress relies on the president to approve and carry out the laws that it passes.
Divided government can also be a drawback to presidential systems. In the United States, if the president and members of Congress hold opposing political views, they may refuse to cooperate.
The result is political stalemate. In the worst of such situations, little gets accomplished-Congress is unable to pass laws without the president's support.
Without Congress's support, an otherwise powerful president becomes immobilized.
Parliamentary systems
Most of the world's democracies, by contrast, are modeled after Great Britain's parliamentary system.
In a parliamentary system, the executive and legislative branches of government are combined. In place of a popularly elected president, parliamentary systems have a prime minister.
An elected legislature called parliament chooses the prime minister.
The prime minister is not only a member of parliament; he or she is also the leader of parliament's majority party.
Once selected, the prime minister appoints cabinet members from the ranks of the majority party.
Should the prime minister ever lose support of the majority party, he or she must resign immediately, as do the cabinet members. Members of parliament then choose another prime minister, or else a new election is called Lin which voters choose a new parliament.
Combining the executive and legislative branches is both an advantage and a dis-advantage for parliamentary systems. Some observers argue that it is easier to pass laws in a parliamentary system. Others take issue with the fact that prime ministers are neither directly elected by the people nor able to effectively take a stand against parliament.
₍ᐢ. .ᐢ₎ Chapter 1, Section 3
Democracy in the US
Before democracy…
Approaching an Ideal In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that struck down state-spon-sored racial segregation in public schools.
The ruling was hailed by many people as a bold step toward the realization of one of the most cherished ideals of American democracy-equality.
The next steps, however, would require much more courage. These steps were often taken by young African American children. In order to make the rul-ing a reality, these children would have to walk past crowds of angry white protestors and into the school.
In 1960 six-year-old Ruby Bridges, flanked by federal marshals, made this walk to reach her first-grade classroom. She was the only African American student assigned to the all-white school in her New Orleans, Louisiana, neighborhood.
Ruby and her family faced many challenges. People threatened them. Ruby's father lost his job and her grandparents, who lived in Mississippi, were forced to move when the white people who owned the land they farmed found out about the events in New Orleans.Still, the Bridges family sup-ported Ruby through what they knew was a key battle in the struggle for social equality-school integration. Ruby, with the federal government and her family's support, bravely met the challenges.
Ideals of an American democracy
An ideal is a conception of something in its most perfect form. Liberty, equality, and self-government are the core ideals of American democracy.
These ideals have been with us since the earliest days of our republic. They were put into words in our nation's founding documents, and they have guided the expansion of American democracy for more than two centuries.
At our nation's beginning, these ideals applied to only a small set of people. When the Framers of the Constitution set pen to paper on behalf of "We, the People," they did not speak for all Americans.
If they had, women, free African Americans, men without property, and slaves would have had a voice in the political process.
American democracy has evolved over time, and it is still changing. As they have in the past, Americans today look to the ideals of liberty, equality, and self-government while shaping the democratic experiment.
(also to this day, we the people still does not speak for all Americans)
Liberty
More than anything, the Founders of our nation aspired to liberty, or the ability of people to act and think as they choose, so long as their choices do no harm to the liberty or well-being of others.
Another word for liberty is freedom.
It was for liberty that the American patriot Patrick Henry declared himself ready to die; it was in the name of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" that the 13 American colonies banded together to declare independence.
And, once the Revolutionary War was over, the Framers of the Constitution crafted a new plan for government to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and our Posterity."
In the early days of the republic, liberty was thought of mainly as freedom from government control.The Framers carefully identified the basic rights of the people and then declared them off-limits from government interference. "Congress shall make no law," the First Amendment says, that restricts an individual's right to speak, assemble, publish, or worship freely.
Liberty also refers to a person's freedom to exercise the rights guaranteed to all U.S. citizens under the Constitution.
In this sense, citizens are free to vote, free to exercise their right to counsel, free to experience equal rights and equal protection under the law, and free to fulfill their potential.
In this last sense, liberty is clearly not defined by the absence of government restraints.
Government intervention may in fact be required to protect the rights of citizens.
For example, extensive government action was necessary to protect the right of Ruby Bridges to an education and to ensure her equal protection under the law.
Equality
Equality Like liberty, Americans have embraced equality as a worthy democratic pursuit.
Equality is the principle that all people possess a fundamental, moral worth that entitles them to fair treatment under the law and equal opportunity in all aspects of life-political, social, and economic.
It was in this sense that Thomas Jefferson eloquently argued that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights."
In Democracy in America (1835), the French noble Alexis de Tocqueville was among the first to seriously explore the meaning of equality in American culture. Tocqueville saw the United States leading "a great democratic revolution" that would sweep the world. In the 1830s, he travelled to the United States, where he set off on a journey that led him across the nation, from New York, down the Mississippi River, and into the lower South.
Tocqueville deeply admired the widespread political and economic equality he observed. He saw this as American democracy's great promise but also worried that equality was incomplete and that it could even be a peril to liberty.
Tocqueville was among the first to note that the American quest for equality was unfinished business. On his travels, he witnessed firsthand glaring examples of inequality, including the poor treatment of Native Americans and what he called "the abomination of slavery."
Declaration of Independence plainly states this ideal: "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Moreover, the Declaration contends that, should a government lose consent, it is "the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."
In short, the people have a right to revolution. This is, of course, exactly what happened.
Principles of American Democracy
Today our sense of who we are as Americans is deeply bound-indeed, inseparable from-our belief in the democratic ideals of liberty, equality, and self-government. But ideals are goals, and democracy is not something that already exists or something that just happens. A commitment to uphold and act upon each of the following principles is necessary to maintain American democracy.
Worth of the Individual
American democracy places a high value on individual freedom, personal responsibility, self-reliance, and individual achievement.
The deep respect that Americans hold for the individual is strongly tied to the belief that, if left free to pursue their own path, people can reach their highest potential.
These beliefs are rooted in the values our nation's Founders held for the individual's natural capacity for reason, intellect, and self-determination.
The words in the Declaration of Independence that express the Founders' sentiments bear repeating: "all men are created equal" and are born with rights to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
For the Founders, this positive estimation of human nature and natural rights was the foundation of self-rule
Rule of Law
The Framers of the U.S. Constitution aimed to create a government under the rule of law.
John Adams described the United States as "a government of laws, not of men."
In other words, the U.S. government and its officials are subject to
Citizen Participation
To be successful, self-government requires participation from citizens.
At the very least, citizens must be informed about public issues so that they can participate effectively, whether by voting or by running for office.
In a strong democracy people participate in the political process at all levels.
They become informed of the issues, speak their minds, serve or juries, debate public issues, hold their leaders accountable, attend community meetings, volunteer for military and social service, pay taxes, and join political parties. They must even be willing, on occasion, to stand in protest for what they believe. Yet participation must also be peaceful, respectful of the law, and tolerant of the rights and liberties of others.
Although Tocqueville applauded the goals of American democracy, he feared that people might give too much power to a central government to achieve equality. He called this democratic despotism, a subtle form of tyranny that could reduce a nation's people to a "herd of timid and industrious animals." This was democracy's peril. For democracy to truly work, equality had to be kept in balance with liberty.
Self-Government
From the beginning of
our republic, Americans have held fast to the ideal of self-government, or the belief that ordinary people could aspire to rule themselves and do so as political equals. The key to self-government is that people are the ultimate source of government authority. The belief that the only just government was a government that derived its powers directly from the consent of the people set the American Revolution in motion. The recognized and enforced limits on their powers. These limits are spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. Ideally, the rule of law forces leaders to act according to the law and holds them accountable when they do not.
Majority Rule, Minority Rights
A basic principle of democracy is that decisions are made by majority rule. Ideally, a candidate wins an election by a majority, by getting more than half of the votes cast. In fact, candidates typically win by a plurality, or by getting more votes than any other candidate.
The Framers fretted over granting any group-even a majority too much political power. Any such imbalance, they believed, could pose a direct threat to the rights of individuals and to the common good. For this reason, they took measures to protect individual rights, such as freedom of speech, as well as government institutions, such as the Supreme Court, against what they called the "tyranny of the majority."
Americans believe strongly that a balance must be struck between majority rule and protecting minority rights. Minority rights are the political rights held by groups who make up less than half of the population. In a liberal democracy, such as the United States, the individual rights and liberties of all people, including those in the minority, are protected. In addition, all citizens have the right to express their opinions, even if their views are not popular. In turn, those in the majority have a responsibility to respect the views of the minority. Successful liberal democracies achieve balance between majority and minority groups through debate, political persuasion, and elections.
Compromise
Another key principle of American democracy is compromise, the ability of two opposing groups to give up some of their demands and come to an agreement. In part, the necessity for compromise is a by-product of the diversity of the American people. In the American political system, there is rarely a shortage of political interests and issues. For example, some people may think that government should raise taxes to fund math and science training for young people entering today's
competitive technological job market. Others might argue that they are taxed unfairly and that they should have their taxes cut. When such conflicts occur, compromise is necessary to keep the political process moving.
Chapter 15, Section 3
Economic Systems
Economic systems can be characterized by three basic types: traditional, market, and command.
Nearly all nations today have mixed economies, meaning they have some combination of traditional, market, and command features.
Making economic decisions
Economics is the study of how people produce, distribute, and consume goods and services.
Different economic systems create and distribute goods and services in different ways, but every economy requires certain basic resources.
The basic resources that make up an economy are called the factors of production. The four main factors of production are land and natural resources, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs, people who display entrepreneurship, put together combinations of other factors of production to create something of value.
How do the factors of production work?
Consider this example: a farmer uses tools to grow crops on a farm. In this example, the farmer represents labor, the tools represent capital, and the farm represents land. The farmer has combined the three main factors of production to create goods and services, or, in this case, crops.
When deciding how to use resources to provide goods and services, all societies must address three basic economic questions:
What should be produced?
How should it be produced?
For whom should it be produced?
A society or country answers these questions through its economic system. In a traditional economy, people answer the basic questions by custom.
People choose what to produce, how to produce it, and who to produce it for based on what people in their community have always done.
This economic system is rare today. (usually used in small communities but rarely used. probably used starting out)
Another type of economic system is the market economy. In a market economy, individuals and businesses make most economic decisions.
They base their choices on their own understanding of the needs and wants of others.
In a command economy, on the other hand, the government makes most economic decisions.
Each of these economic systems takes a distinct approach to such goals as freedom, efficiency, and fairness. Today most countries combine elements of traditional, market, and command economic systems into what is called a mixed economy.
Mixed Economies
There are three main types of mixed economies:
capitalist
socialist
communist
Capitalist economies are closest to the market economy model while communist economies are closest to the command economy model. Socialist economies fall between the market and command models.
Capitalist Economies
Capitalism is familiar to Americans because it is the system on which the U.S. economy is largely based.
people and businesses make most economic decisions.
Capitalism in Theory Philosopher Adam Smith is the founder of capitalist theory.
In The Wealth of Nations (1776), Smith promoted a concept known as laissez-faire, which is French for "to let alone." Smith's laissez-faire theory called for minimal government involvement in economic affairs.
In a capitalist economy, individuals and businesses own the factors of production. They act in their own interest, and no central government authority tells them what to do.
Capitalism, in theory, also promotes efficiency through competition.
The economic pressures of a capitalist system push people to make better products at lower prices.
While not everyone can win in this environment, capitalists believe the overall effect is good for most people.
Capitalism in the United States
In reality, no country takes a truly laissez-faire approach to the economy.
The U.S. government routinely acts to influence the economy and regulate markets.
For example, the U.S. government created the Federal Reserve System to serve as the nation's central bank.
In charge of this system is the Federal Reserve Board, which is able to influence the U.S. economy by controlling the supply of money and adjusting interest rates.
The U.S. government has also created agencies to regulate markets.
Two of these agencies-the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Food and Drug Administration-oversee businesses to ensure the safety of the goods people buy.
Recent Developments
In recent years, the United States and many other countries have moved to reduce government involvement in international trade and encourage global competition.
Free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed by the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 1994, reduce government-imposed barriers to international trade.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) helps countries work toward free trade. Most of the world's nations belong to the WTO,
some opponents of free trade argue that it benefits wealthy developed nations at the expense of less developed nations.
Socialist Economies
Some countries have command economies in which the government exercises a great deal of control.
In recent years, many of the world's command economies have been socialist.
Socialism is an economic and political system in which the state controls most productive resources-factories, land, and so on.
One of the key goals of socialism is to distribute a nation's wealth throughout society for the benefit of the majority of its citizens.
Marx and Socialism
The founder of modern socialism was German
political and economic theorist Karl Marx.During the mid-1800s, Marx and fellow German Friedrich Engels wrote important works that criticized capitalism.
Under capitalism, Marx argued, the proletariat, or working class, was treated unfairly by the bourgeoisie, or the people who own the means of production in a capitalist system.
Capitalism, he believed, placed too strong an emphasis on profit.
Marx advocated the overthrow of the capitalist system by force, arguing that socialism would best protect workers' rights.
Socialism and Democracy
Socialist nations today are generally democratic.
Unlike pure socialism, which seeks to eliminate capitalism, these social democracies use state regulation and social services to ease any economic injustices caused by capitalism.
The United Kingdom is an example of a social democracy.
In the U.K., as in the United States, individuals and businesses own most of the means of production and make most economic decisions.
However, the U.K. government plays a greater role than the U.S. government in ensuring the individual and social welfare of its citizens.
For example, U.K. citizens are entitled to health care that is mostly paid for by the government. U.K. workers are also granted more rights under the law than workers in the United States.
Mexico is another country that has socialist economic features. As in the United States, individuals and businesses may own property and make many economic decisions.
Additionally, as in the United Kingdom, the Mexican government provides social services, such as subsidized health care, to its citizens.
In Mexico, though, the government runs some major industries that would be run by private companies in the United States. For example, Mexico's oil and gas industry is controlled by a government-run company.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Critics of socialism point out that comprehensive social programs often lead to high taxes.
In turn, high taxes discourage workers and companies from producing more efficiently.
Furthermore, critics argue, the economic controls of socialism discourage private economic development and innovation.
Defenders of socialism argue, however, that the inequalities of capitalism harm the greater good and that it is fairer to provide everyone with their basic needs. Economic democracy, they believe, should go hand-in-hand with political democracy.
Communist Economies
Like socialism, communism developed from the ideas of Karl Marx.
Communism is an economic and political system in which the government owns all property and controls economic planning.
Unlike a socialist democracy, however, Communist nations have authoritarian governments.
Marx and Communism Marx was convinced that the proletariat-the workers-would rise up in a violent revolution against the bourgeoisie, overthrowing the capitalist system.
After this revolution, he believed, a global society would emerge in which there were no class distinctions and government would slowly wither away. Marx used the term Communist to describe this classless society.
The Soviet Union
The Soviet Union
was the first Communist nation,
and its leaders adopted many of Marx's ideas.
The state took control of many businesses and of the means of production.
The Communist Party held complete political power and made decisions about all aspects of the Soviet economy.
Economically, communism brought mixed results.
Under the protection of the government, the economy underwent rapid indus-trialization and the Soviet military became one of the two most powerful militaries in the world, along with that of the United States.
But the inefficiencies of central planning and the increasing costs of military competition with the United States eventually destroyed the Soviet economy.
By the 1980s, widespread shortages of food and consumer goods led to increasing public unhappiness with the government.
the inability of the government to meet the needs and wants of its people helped destroy the Soviet empire.
China
After Communist China was established in 1949, its early attempts at central planning had mixed results.
Beginning in the late 1970s, however, China's authoritarian government began to slowly reform the economy, moving away from communism and giving businesses new freedom to make economic decisions.
Eventually the government allowed foreign investors and international companies to enter the Chinese market.
Today, China's economy continues to move away from communism.
However, the Chinese government is still heavily involved in the nation's economy.
As of 2014, 75 percent of China's gross domestic product was produced in the private sector, while 25 percent was produced by government-run industries.
Furthermore, China's government is still firmly under Communist Party control.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Communism shares some of the advantages and disadvantages of socialism.
After all, communism is essentially just an extreme authoritarian form of socialism.
One advantage is that a command economy may allow countries to develop their economies quickly, as in the Soviet Union and China.
Recall, though, that economic competition can be helpful.
Without competition, there is little reason to create new and better products.
As a result, poor product quality is a common problem in command economies.
The shortage of consumer goods can be another issue, as central planners are carrying out a larger economic plan in which consumer desires often have little influence on economic decisions.