government definition

government definition

The Definition and Function of Government in Society

1. Introduction to the Concept of Government

It is important to note that government describes both a set of institutions and a type of relationship. It does so by specifying how decisions are made and how they are obeyed. This idea of government, the structure of government, defines the specific way in which people make group decisions and how they select their leaders. It provides the formal techniques and arrangements that allow a group of people to reach their common objectives. It represents the power and control that a people collectively use to reach decisions that are most likely to promote their group well-being. Government also refers to the actions that leaders take to pursue given goals and to the effects of those actions on the group members. In this sense, we can ask what different political bodies do to serve the interests of their members. We can ask about the services that a government does or should offer to a population. We are concerned with the functions that leadership fulfills, or the services that it offers.

Word government originally meant the mechanisms that allow a group of people to live together and pursue their own individual and common goals. Because we humans are social beings, this pursuit is made possible by the many involvements we have with other people. The word government also suggests a link between and among authority, power, leadership, decision-making, and the daily lives of a population. Ideally, government is a type of leadership in a society that helps to provide for the welfare of the society. It does so by making and enforcing rules of behavior, by offering services and support, by participating directly in the lives of people, and by providing basic protection against potential threats to the society as well as many support services. The expression “a good government” often suggests the attention, fairness, and care that is central to the services that leadership offers to a people.

2. The Evolution of Government Systems

The free market policy approach is generally aimed at fostering competition in the economy. In an open, competitive market, individual buyers and sellers influence the price of goods and services. Individuals have some control over purchase and sale conditions, especially with respect to the prices and quantities of goods and services exchanged in the market. With competitive influence, these terms of trade provide a society in scarce resources to determine both the total quantities of goods and services supplied and their use. Historically, the performance of market models has confirmed the collective power of the many demanders and suppliers to influence the price, quality, and variety of items available for trade. An open market provides producers with the necessary incentives to provide goods and services in the most efficient or, at least, the most effective and fair way to allocate resources among alternative uses of their society.

As will be discussed in the next chapters, two basic types of government policy approaches promote economic efficiency and development. In a traditional liberal economy or free market policy approach, the government’s primary role is to enforce laws and regulations that support free interdependence of resources in production and consumption. In a socialist economy, the government controls economic resources and shapes economic institutions. Briefly consider the development of economic systems and link this analysis to different forms of market structure.

3. The Key Functions and Responsibilities of Government

The responsibilities of government: There are three primary responsibilities of government: (1) making and enforcing laws; (2) operating the government; and (3) regulating and defining relations with other governments. Lawmaking authority on a state or national basis is, by universal consent, normally vested in a central government. If not, the malfunctions which emerge necessitate establishing the proper order, stability, and protection of everyone in society. Administration and regulation of public services are carried out by the administration, which employs the institutions, procedures, and staff to achieve these goals. Also, the government holds responsibility for defense and protection, which involve military defense and the safeguarding of civil defense to ensure the well-being of society.

Key functions of government: The key functions of government include administration, decision-making, representation, protection, establishment of laws, and the exercise of power/delegation of administration and public services. These functions aim to achieve peace and harmony in society, protect individuals and groups from arbitrary attacks, internally or externally. This stability also permits a search for economic action in terms of economic growth, provision of equality and justice for all peaceful and prosperous countries, and the harmonious welfare of their citizenry.

4. The Role of Government in Modern Societies

In today’s world, it is inconceivable to run a seemingly elegant society without government. Government, in the modern or current meaning, is usually an organization. Since the process of forming a world village society, we are far from able to close at first sight. However, under certain social and historical conditions, government in its specific sense is still the choice and result of the development of human society. The main reason is that there are various, complex, and intricate disputes and contradictions that are difficult to resolve between community organizations in the diversified social community. In the development of the diversified social community, the government has anaclisis characteristics. When social disputes and contradictions cannot be solved, the last stop of problems is always at the doorstep of the government organization. The government’s main task is to regulate the basic public governance system and maintain the basic public governance order so that society can operate smoothly. The basic responsibilities of the basic public governance system cannot be abrogated, and neither can the basic public governance order.

This involves the question of the social organization’s role division. Generalized division of labor has given rise to diversified community organizations, such as the government, enterprises, operators, education institutions, and so on. For diversified community organizations, the responsibility of the government is to regulate the basic public governance system and prevent the basic public governance order from being undermined.

Just as an orderly life is the stabilized security community assuming differentiated responsibilities, so human society is a stabilized conflict-cooperation community assuming different social responsibilities. The human community is not only a stabilized conflict-cooperation community but also a conflict-cooperation community with social responsibilities of all kinds. As the community grows increasingly diversified, it must, in principle, answer society’s diverse questions and allocate to each kind of society a corresponding social responsibility to ensure that each and every aspect of society is fully and well managed.

5. Conclusion and Future Perspectives

In principle, uniformity of trade-offs is an attractive property of efficient and stable constitutional choices, but due to basic social, political, and socioeconomic characteristics of public decisions involving federalism, the unanimity requirement is too restrictive in the context of constitutional change. By homogenizing preferences, postulating that the more utilization of general political rules, the less will preference heterogeneity among actors supervising general political rule processing, constitutionalists may shed some light on the issue of constitutional adjustments in the context of federalism. Further topics to deepen our understanding of adequate constitutional decision-making would draw attention to comparative political economy questions and ask about the influence of national identities on enforceable decision-making rules, in particular in connection with differing political institutions.

This chapter has shifted the focus from an economist’s view of government, usually concerned with its size and effects on productivity and economic growth, to the reasons for the existence of government in the first place. Instead of focusing on efficiency questions, the focus has shifted to the necessity for government to create and enforce a credible social order. Following the discussion of different enforcement mechanisms in the context of the provision of public goods, the ‘constitutions of larger societies’ have been analyzed. An exploration of necessary characteristics of efficient and stable enforcement of agreements and management of conflicts when relatively small territories are joined together founded the discussion of effective constitutional design. It was shown that large societies benefit in the first place from reduced heterogeneity in preferences among members of society regarding their strategic interactions.