Government is the system of people, laws, and officials that define and control the country you live in. It is the largest of all the systems that govern a society, but it can be complicated to understand.
The government has several main branches, each with different powers and responsibilities. Throughout history, the branches of government have worked together to create a system called checks and balances. This means that if one branch of the government is too powerful, it can be checked by the other two branches.
Legislative
The legislative branch drafts proposed laws, confirms or rejects presidential nominations for heads of federal agencies, federal judges and the Supreme Court, and has the power to declare war and regulate interstate and foreign commerce. This branch also includes Congress (the Senate and House of Representatives) and special agencies and offices that provide support services to the legislature.
Executive
The executive branch carries out and enforces laws and makes decisions about how to spend money. It includes the president, the vice president, the Cabinet (a council of advisers), and executive departments that are created by Congress. It also includes independent agencies, committees and other organizations that help the president to carry out his duties.
Judicial
The judicial branch interprets the meaning of laws and applies them to individual cases. It includes the Supreme Court and other federal courts that make the final decision on whether a law is legal. It also includes the Justice Department and other agencies that work with the courts to investigate violations of law.
Policy
Policies are the goals that an authority hopes to accomplish and the principles it agrees to follow when making decisions about how to achieve those goals. For example, if a government is trying to preserve public lands, it may pass laws that prohibit companies from selling those lands for private use.
These kinds of policies are what governments set as their goals and principles when creating laws, and they can be a helpful tool to guide students in learning about government.
In the United States, for example, our government has a Constitution that defines the modality of our government and the powers granted to its members. This document is used to determine who can be President, how the Senate votes on the President’s nominations, and who serves in the Cabinet.
Besides the Constitution, each State has its own rules for the formation, powers and rules of the government. These rules are important to the government’s function and are designed to protect its citizens from abuse of power.
Sovereign
A sovereign state is a country where all the people have a voice and the power to control the government. The people can choose who represents them in the government and can change that representation at any time, as long as they have enough votes to win.
This type of government can be very powerful and can also be very unfair to some people. This is because there are few limits to the amount of power an authority can exercise.