Government is the organization that a nation or community establishes and maintains for the purpose of making laws, maintaining an infrastructure, providing benefits to its citizens and providing protection from external threats. There is a large variety of governments worldwide, but there are some common features that all of them share.
Governments are made up of people who are elected to represent a specific region, or constituency. These elected officials are usually members of a political party who share similar ideas and philosophies regarding the role of the government.
The fundamental function of any government is to protect its citizens from external threats. This includes protecting against natural disasters, crime, famine, war, and terrorism. Governments also provide social programs that help their citizens, such as food stamps, welfare, and job training.
Government also provides services that cannot be provided by the free market, such as national security and education. The government also regulates access to “common goods” that are in limited supply, such as wildlife, public lands and water. Government must protect these resources so that some people do not take everything available and leave others with nothing.
In addition to these core functions, many governments provide a wide range of other services, such as managing the environment, investing in scientific research and maintaining infrastructure. Some of these programs are mandatory, while others are discretionary and based on the perceived needs of the nation.
During the early days of human civilization, people discovered that it was easier to protect themselves if they grouped together into larger units and recognized one member of the group (later called a nation) as having more power than another. This recognition was the basis of sovereignty, the right of a nation to govern itself without outside interference. This system of governance eventually evolved into the modern form of government, which is a legal entity that makes and enforces laws for the benefit of its citizens.
There are several different types of government, with the most common being democracies and totalitarian regimes, although there are many other forms of government as well. In the United States, government is a large part of the economy and consists of both private businesses and federal agencies, such as the Departments of Labor, Agriculture, Energy, Education and Homeland Security. The lion’s share of government spending is spent on social programs, including Medicare and Social Security, which pay retirees and some disabled Americans, as well as the safety net programs of food stamps, welfare, and job training.
