POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

What Is Government?

 Political behavior has been a part of human societies since the dawn of history. Early people lived in societies in the open—hunting wild animals and gathering wild plants for food and clothing. People in these groups cooperated to make their hunts efficient and to protect themselves against attacks from fierce animals or other hunting groups. They appointed leaders to direct their hunts and to decide group actions in times of crisis. Such cooperative measures helped the society and its individual members survive.

Governments today still hold responsibility for the welfare and safety of their people. Modern governments make economic decisions that determine how a society will make use of natural resources and distribute wealth among its members. They also assume the responsibility for protecting their people. Most nations have a military—armed forces that guard against aggression from other nations. Government forces, including the police and National Guard, protect citizens against crimes or the violence of other citizens. Sometimes they aid victims of floods, fire, or other natural disasters.

Modern governments still provide ways for choosing leaders and deciding how much authority the leaders will have. Every government also has a method for determining the goals of society, for making laws, and for enforcing those laws. Finally, each government must provide a system of justice. No society expects to be free of disputes among its citizens. It is the government’s responsibility to see that disagreements among its citizens are resolved in a just and nonviolent way.

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Forms of Modern Government

 Americans live under a democratic government. This means they have the opportunity to help choose government leaders and to participate in the decisions these leaders make. If the United States were a totalitarian government, Americans’ political opportunities would be much different. In fact, Americans would have very little, if any, opportunity to decide who leads the government or to make changes in actions the government takes.

To a political scientist, a democratic government is one in which the people or a majority of the people rule, usually through officials chosen in free elections. Democratic governments also recognize the right of dissent. This means that citizens are free to disagree with their government. They may criticize and challenge their political leaders or try to change government decisions. The antiabortion protests in the 1980s and 1990s and the recent protests against the war in Iraq are examples of the right to dissent.

A totalitarian government is one in which one person or a small group of persons rules. Citizens have no opportunities to change their government or influence government policies. Opposition and dissent are illegal. Under a totalitarian system, citizens cannot write letters expressing their opinions to government leaders, and they can be punished for attending a meeting where people are speaking against government actions.

No country is “purely” democratic or totalitarian. Nor do these forms of government last forever. The United States is considered the most democratic nation in the world. The suppression of some Vietnam War and civil rights protests shows that even democratic governments sometimes censor expressions of dissent. Recent changes in Eastern Europe show that sometimes totalitarian governments change when people organize against them. Between 1989 and 1991, the former Communist governments that held power since World War II were replaced by more democratic governments. Even the Soviet Union disbanded and was replaced by a loose federation of democratic republics.

Many countries of Latin America have a history of dictatorships. A dictatorship is a totalitarian government in which an individual leader exercises virtually unlimited power.

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