Government is the way adults make and enforce the rules that people live by. It’s also how they protect their citizens from harm and provide them with things like jobs, health care and education.
It’s important for society to have a stable form of government because it provides people with the basic services and laws they need to survive. Without a stable government, people would struggle to find food or shelter and could not enjoy many other aspects of life that are necessary for living comfortably in a modern society.
Different countries have different forms of government. Some are democratic, meaning they have a parliament or other type of legislature that makes laws for the country. These types of governments are common throughout Europe and the United States. Others are monarchical, meaning they have a king or queen who is the highest authority in the land. Monarchies were the most common type of government in ancient Egypt, where pharaohs ruled from as early as 2600 bce until 30 bce.
Some governments are dictatorships, which means they have a single person with absolute power who does not allow anyone to challenge his or her decisions. Other types of governments are socialist, which means that they claim to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods and property are equally shared by the citizens (or, as some people like to call it, a “classless society”).
The U.S. Constitution calls for a republican form of government, which includes three branches: the executive, legislative and judicial. The founders of the United States designed this system because they wanted to ensure that no one branch had too much power. They knew from history that giving any one branch too much control can cause big problems.
This is why there are laws that limit how long politicians can serve in office, as well as other ways to limit their power, such as term limits, lobbying and campaign finance regulations. The founders also put into place checks and balances, which is when a branch of government cannot do something by itself, but has to check with another branch before making a decision. For example, if the legislative and executive branches agree on a law, they will present it to the president for his or her consideration. If the president doesn’t approve it, he or she can use his or her veto powers to send the bill back to the legislature for reconsideration.
The judicial branch makes sure the laws are fair and equal, much like referees in a sport. The judicial branch also handles cases that have to do with the rights of the people and their legal protections. Some of these cases are very controversial, such as when a government takes the side of a corporation that may have done something wrong. For example, the company might have made a profit that did not adequately compensate employees or did something illegal.