Government is broadly defined as the administrative organization with authority to govern a political state. In British English (and that of the Commonwealth of Nations), a government more narrowly refers to the particular administrative bureaucracy in control of a state at a given time—known in American English as an administration. In American English, government refers to the larger system by which any state is organized. Furthermore, government is occasionally used in English as a synonym for governance.
In the case of its broad definition, government normally consists of legislators, administrators, and arbitrators. Government is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state. A form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized.
States are served by a continuous succession of different governments. Each successive government is composed of a body of individuals who control and exercise control over political decision-making. Their function is to make and enforce laws and arbitrate conflicts. In some societies, this group is often a self-perpetuating or hereditary class. In other societies, such as democracies, the political roles remain, but there is frequent turnover of the people actually filling the positions.
Government of any kind currently affects every human activity in many important ways. For this reason, political scientists generally argue that government should not be studied by itself. They argue that government should be studied along with anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, science, and sociology.
Read more about Government: Government, Classifying Governments, Etymology, Maps
Other articles related to "government":
... Lely (after whom Lelystad is named) was an ardent supporter, an engineer and later government minister, whose 1891 plan formed the basis for what were to become the Zuiderzee Works ... Transport and Public Works in 1913, the government started working on official plans to enclose the Zuiderzee ... salt water inlet The Dienst der Zuiderzeewerken (Zuiderzee Works Department), the government body responsible for overseeing the construction and initial management, was set up in May 1919 ...
... The austerity measures introduced by the government are in part an attempt to fulfill the Maastricht criteria ... Total government spending is high ... because of mounting financial-sector funding pressures and the general government debt which is of 81% of GDP (2010) ...
... republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system ... Executive power is exercised by the government ... Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament ...
... The central government in Beijing controls the foreign affairs of Macau ... A central government agency, the commission interacts with the Macau government in matters of foreign policy ...
... Each operate their own municipal government, united they form one city government with its own constitution ... The city government also has a judicial branch based on the post-transitional judicial system as outlined by the High Representative's “High Judicial and ... Local communities have a small role in city government and are intended as a way for ordinary citizens to get involved in city government ...
Famous quotes containing the word government:
“Our government is founded upon the intelligence of the people. I for one do not despair of the republic. I have great confidence in the virtue of the great majority of the people, and I cannot fear the result.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“If private men are obliged to perform the offices of government, to protect the weak and dispense justice, then the government becomes only a hired man, or clerk, to perform menial or indifferent services.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)