Government is the way a society organizes itself to accomplish collective goals and provide benefits that individuals cannot easily secure on their own. Governments vary in size and type from one country to the next, but all of them share some similarities: they provide services like education, roads and law enforcement, and they have the power to tax and compel citizens to pay taxes.
Governments also have the unique power to protect people and property from harm and to defend their nation against attack. These responsibilities require the ability to raise money and use it effectively. Governments have many different ways of doing this, but the most common are through taxes and fees. Governments can also borrow money from financial markets, a practice called deficit spending, in order to finance projects that would not otherwise be funded.
Most governments are centered around one leader, or a small group of leaders, who make decisions for the entire country. These decisions are made through a process of checks and balances that is meant to keep the leader from abusing his or her power and becoming a dictator. The three branches of the United States government, for example, work together to ensure that no one branch has too much power. A good example of this is how the President cannot simply fire anyone he or she wants; instead, the decision must go to the Senate and then the House. The decision can then be approved or rejected by these two bodies. If the President approves the decision, it becomes law. If the President rejects it, he or she may choose to veto the bill. In this case, the bill must be re-passed by both houses with a two-thirds majority in order to become law.
One of the most important jobs of any government is to regulate access to resources that are in limited supply. These are known as public goods. Examples of public goods include national security, education and wildlife conservation. The private market cannot provide these goods in sufficient quantity at low enough prices, so they are provided by the government. Governments must decide how much of these resources they want to devote to each of these areas.
The Federal Government has specific powers laid out in the Constitution, and each State has its own government. These government structures vary from state to state, but the principle is the same: power is shared among multiple governing bodies to prevent any single body from accumulating too much power.
The structure of a government is often determined by its political philosophy. For example, if a government believes that equality is a key value, then it will be more likely to spend money on things like housing for the poor and free public schools. If it believes that liberty is more important than security, then it will place restrictions on the extent to which law enforcement agencies can tap people’s phones or censor what newspapers can publish.