The government of each nation has unique characteristics that relate to that nation’s historic development.  To carry out their functions, governments have been organized in a variety of ways.  Most large countries have several different levels of government.  These usually include a central or national government, as well as the governments of smaller divisions within the country, such as provinces, states, counties, cities, towns, and villages.

Government Systems

The relationship among the national government and the smaller divisions can be described as either unitary or federal.

Unitary System

A unitary system of government gives all key powers to the national or central government.  This does not mean that only one level of government exists.  Rather, it means that the central government creates state, provincial, or other local governments and gives them limited sovereignty.  Great Britain, Italy, and France developed unitary governments as these nations gradually emerged from smaller kingdoms.

Federal System

A federal system of government divides the powers of government between the national government and state or provincial governments.  Each level of government has sovereignty in some areas.  The United States developed a federal system after the thirteen colonies became states.

To begin with, the United States formed a confederacy, a loose union of independent states.  When the confederacy failed to provide an effective national government, the Constitution made the national government supreme, while preserving some state government powers.  Today, other countries with federal systems include Canada, Switzerland, Mexico, Australia, and India.

What is the difference between a unitary system and a federal system?

Constitutions and Government
 

A constitution is a plan that provides the rules for government.  A constitution serves several major purposes.  (l) It sets out ideals that the people bound by the constitution believe in and share.  (2) It establishes the basic structure of government and defines the government’s powers and duties.  (3) It provides the supreme law for the country.  Constitutions provide rules that shape the actions of government and politics, much as the rules of basketball define the action in a basketball game. Constitutions may be written or unwritten; however, in most modern states, constitutions are written.  The United States Constitution, drawn up in 1787, is the oldest written constitution still serving a nation today.

Other nations with written constitutions include France, Kenya, India, Italy, and Switzerland.  Great Britain, on the other hand, has an unwritten constitution based on hundreds of years of legislative acts, court decisions, and customs.

All governments have a constitution in the sense that they have some plan for organizing and operating the government.  In this sense the People’s Republic of China has a constitution.  The term constitutional government, however, has a special meaning.  It refers to a government in which a constitution has authority to place clearly recognized limits on the powers of those who govern.  Thus, constitutional government is limited government.  Despite the existence of a written constitution, the People’s Republic of China does not have constitutional government.  In that country, there are few limits on the power of the government.

Incomplete Guides   Constitutions themselves are important but incomplete guides to how a country is actually governed.  They are incomplete for two reasons.  First, no written constitution by itself can possibly spell out all the laws, customs, and ideas that grow up around the document itself.  In the United States, for example, until Franklin D.  Roosevelt was elected president four times, it was custom, rather than law, that no person should be elected president more than twice. Only when the Twenty-second Amendment went into effect was a president limited by law to two elected terms.

Second, a constitution does not always reflect the actual practice of government in a country.  The People’s Republic of China, for example, has a written constitution filled with statements about the basic rights, freedoms, and duties of citizens.  Yet, for years the Chinese government has maintained an extensive police force to spy on Chinese citizens and punish those whose ideas are not acceptable to the state.  Although the government relaxed some restrictions in the late 1980s, 
authorities crushed a pro-democracy movement in 1989.

A Statement of Goals

Most constitutions contain a statement that sets forth the goals and purposes to be served by the government.  This statement is usually called the preamble.  The Preamble to the United States Constitution states the major goals of American government:
 

“We, the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence [defense], promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The main body of a constitution sets out the plan for government.  In federal states, such as the United States, the constitution also describes the relationship between the national government and state governments.  Most written constitutions also describe the procedure for amending, or changing, the constitution.

The main body of a constitution is usually divided into parts called articles and sections.  The United States Constitution has 7 articles containing a total of 21 sections.  The French constitution has 92 articles grouped under 15 titles.  The Indian constitution, the longest in the world, consists of hundreds of articles.

The Highest Law

Constitutions provide the supreme law for states.  A constitution is usually accepted as a superior, morally binding force.  It draws its authority from the people or from a special assembly chosen by the people to create the constitution.  Constitutional law involves the interpretation and application of the constitution.  Thus, constitutional law primarily concerns defining the extent and limits of government power and the rights of citizens.

What is a constitutional government?

Politics and Government

The effort to control or influence the conduct and policies of government is called politics.  The Constitution did not prevent the development of politics because politics and government are closely related.  In fact, a major political struggle developed over the ratification of the Constitution itself.  Within a few years major political parties played key roles in elections.

People are taking part in politics when they join a citizens’ group protesting higher taxes or when they meet with the mayor to ask the city to repave the streets in their neighborhood.  Legislators are acting politically when they vote to have government buildings constructed in the districts they represent.

Seeking Government Benefits

Participation in politics arises because people realize that government has the potential to influence their lives in many ways.  Different people make different demands on government.  Construction workers may want government to support the building of new highways to create jobs.  Conservationists may want the government to spend its money on mass transit and public parks instead.  Still other people, who favor lower taxes, may want neither the new highways nor more public parks.

In a large, diverse nation like the United States, there is a continual struggle over what benefits and services government should provide, how much they should cost, and who should pay for them.  Through politics, individuals and groups seek to maximize the benefits they get from government while they try to reduce the costs of these benefits.  Through politics, people also seek to use government to turn their values and beliefs into public policy.  One group, for example, tries to influence government to ban smoking in public places.  Other people pressure government not to restrict smoking in any way.

Importance of Politics

Through politics, conflicts in society are managed.  As people seek rewards and benefits, politics provides a peaceful way for them to compete with one another.  The outcomes of politics—the struggle to control government—affect such key matters as the quality of air and water, economic conditions, peace and war, and the extent of citizens’ rights and freedoms.

Special Interests

The Constitution says that government should promote the general welfare.  The Framers believed government should operate in the interests of all the people, not favoring any special group or person.  One of the issues that concerned the Framers of the United States Constitution was the possibility that groups of people, united by special political interests, would hinder the launching of the new government.  James Madison explained his concerns in a series of articles called The Federalist:
 

“Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union... [is] its tendency to break and control the violence of faction. ...  By a faction, I understand a number of citizens ... who are united and actuated [moved] by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community....”

Some people equate politics with bribery or corruption.  They believe the general welfare may be sacrificed to the desires of a special-interest group.  The misuse of politics, however, should not obscure the value of a political system.

What is politics?

Governing in a Complex World

The United States government conducts policy in a complex world.  Changing relationships challenge the policies of every nation.  It is not easy to define the boundaries of government.

Major Inequalities Among States

Because of great inequalities among countries, the world today is full of contrasts.  The United States and about 20 other states, such as Japan, Canada, Australia, and France, are industrialized nations.  Industrialized nations have generally large industries and advanced technology that provide a more comfortable way of life than developing nations do.  Developing nations are only beginning to develop industrially.  More than 100 developing nations have average per capita, or per person, incomes that are a fraction of those of industrialized nations.  In the poorest countries, starvation, disease, and political turmoil are a way of life.

Many states of Africa south of the Sahara and of Southeast Asia are developing nations.  Between these two levels of nations are many newly industrialized states like Mexico, South Korea, and Argentina, as well as other states in South America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.

Growing Interdependence

Although each state is sovereign, it must exist in a world of many nations.  Nations today are in constant contact with one another, and they are becoming more and more interdependent.

Interdependence means that nations must interact or depend on one another, especially economically and politically.  The larger countries of North America—Canada, Mexico, and the United States—are developing greater economic, social, and political ties.  In 1993 the United States signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that linked North America in a far-reaching trade partnership that affected goods produced and sold between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Interdependence affects the developing states.  Many of the developing states have become very dependent on the industrialized ones for economic aid, medical supplies and services, financial investment, assistance to cope with natural disasters, and military aid.

Growing interdependence means that events in one nation affect events throughout the world.  In 1990, for example, President Bush sent troops to Saudi Arabia after Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait.  The United States relied on the Middle Eastern states for an important part of its oil supply.  As war threatened to break out in the region, people feared that there would be an oil shortage in the United States.  The United States and its allies defeated Iraq in the Persian Gulf War in 1991; however, tensions in the Gulf have continued.  In 1996 the United States launched 27 missile attacks against Iraq because the policies of its president, Saddam Hussein, had threatened oil-producing countries again.  In 1997 new tensions arose when Iraq refused to comply with the terms of the United Nations cease-fire agreement.

Travel, trade, and communications among states are increasing.  In 1970 United States exports of goods and services were more than $62 billion, while imports were nearly $60 billion.  By 2000 United States yearly exports climbed to more than $950 billion, and imports passed the one trillion mark.  An increase in international communications more than matched this huge increase in trade.  Fiber optic telephone cable enabled Americans to exceed a tenfold increase in overseas telephone contacts between 1977 and the early 1990s.  Satellite television has connected people of every continent.

Nonstate International Groups

Today’s world also contains some groups that are not states but that play an important role in international politics.  These nonstate groups fall into three categories: (1) political movements such as national liberation organizations; (2) multinational corporations; and (3) international organizations.  Nonstate groups play major roles in international affairs because they impact policies and decisions of the diverse states of the world.

Some national liberation organizations, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), maintain diplomatic relations with many states.  States may refuse to recognize those that conduct terrorist activities, however.

Multinational corporations are huge companies with offices and factories in many countries.  While they do not have political sovereignty, they do carry out their activities on a global scale, selling their products worldwide and entering into 
agreements with foreign governments.  Thus, multinational corporations influence international politics and the internal decisions of their host countries.  Richard Holder, president of Reynolds Metals Company, explained that a global company is one that
 

“...  operates as a worldwide, integrated system in which all operations, wherever they may be, are interdependent in terms of operations and strategies.  Every decision ... is considered in the light of a worldwide system.”

General Motors, American Telephone and Telegraph, Unilever, Nabisco, British Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsubishi, and Sony are examples of global corporations that have attained worldwide economic importance.

Finally, the modern world includes many international organizations.  These groups range from the United Nations (UN) to more specialized organizations such as the International Sugar Council and the Universal Postal Union.  These organizations undertake a wide variety of tasks, often to serve the needs of member states.  The World Meteorological Organization, for example, facilitates the exchange of weather information among states.

What is the role of government in our complex world?