What is Government: Definition and 125 Discussions

A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.

In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a means by which organizational policies are enforced, as well as a mechanism for determining policy. Each government has a kind of constitution, a statement of its governing principles and philosophy.
While all types of organizations have governance, the term government is often used more specifically, to refer to the approximately 200 independent national governments and subsidiary organizations.
Historically prevalent forms of government include monarchy, aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, theocracy and tyranny. The main aspect of any philosophy of government is how political power is obtained, with the two main forms being electoral contest and hereditary succession.

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  1. Ivan Seeking

    News Do you trust the US government to run an honest election

    Very late edit: Please make that second option "significant election fraud"; meaning enough to affect the outcome of the election. Any votes already made in error should be clarified and I will post the correction here. I sure don't want to start any polling fraud conspiracy theories! :smile...
  2. B

    News Federal Government Debt Over 7 Trillion

    FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DEBT = $24,470.04 PER PERSON, and rising. This means a family of four (4) shares more than $93,080 in federal debt responsibility - - including those still in diapers.The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $1.73 billion per day since September 30, 2003...
  3. B

    News Federal Government Debt Over 7 Trillion

    FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DEBT = $24,470.04 PER PERSON, and rising. This means a family of four (4) shares more than $93,080 in federal debt responsibility - - including those still in diapers. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $1.73 billion per day since September 30, 2003...
  4. A

    News Do you trust the word of the USA government?

    A simple question. Do you trust the word/publicity of the USA government?
  5. V

    Can Utopian Government Incorporate All Five Basic Forms of Rule?

    here we can discuss the basic form of government you believe to be the theoretical ideal - Utopia there are 5 basic forms of government possible - from which endless sub-forms are derived the BASE forms of government are: 1. Acracy.....rule by none 2. Autocracy...rule by one 3...
  6. L

    Why Doesn't Anyone Invent a Better Form of Government?

    Why does nobody invent a new (better) form of government?
  7. A

    News Is the USA Government Still Seen as an Honest Broker in International Affairs?

    Just read the news article at: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20040415/wl_nm/mideast_powell_dc Question: Do you consider the USA government credible, in terms of international relations?
  8. A

    News Australia's Government - Is Credibility Toast?

    The credibility of Australia's government is rather toasted right now. Nobody believes them. We sent troops to Iraq, and amazingly got that big AU$4 billion/year trade deal with the USA right after it. Alexander Downer (For those who don't know, as the head of DFAT, Downer inherited control...
  9. A

    News Uncovering USA Government Activity with William Blum

    Greetings gentle readers, Ever heard of William Blum? He's a writer who has taken upon himself the task of showing the USA public exactly what their government does in their name. In aid of this, he lives near the Library of Congress, so as to spend his days in there gathering evidence -...
  10. A

    News How much the USA government spends on war?

    Do you know how much the USA government spends on war? https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=17663 https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=17475
  11. E

    Government Psychics: CIA Psychic Spies?

    I seen, on a few programs, psychics who say they've been trained by the CIA many years back to become a psychic spy. They had a pretty convincing demonstration by one these psychics on some sci-fi show In Search Of or something. They told the psychic only the name of the person and within...
  12. T

    News Is Government Surveillance Overreaching Privacy Boundaries?

    I was reading this article and I was reminded of the quote above. Now my question is: Has the government overstepped it's boundaries when it comes to our privacy? Where do we draw the line? How do we prevent the government from abusing this power? Is gov. regulation a good thing or a bad thing?
  13. N

    CIA Overthrows Australia: Gough Whitlam's 1977 Warning

    “There is profoundly increasing evidence that foreign espionage and intelligence activities are being practised in Australia on a wide scale… I believe the evidence is so grave and so alarming in its implications that it demands the fullest explanation. The deception over the CIA and the...
  14. E

    Would the government tell us about UFOs?

    If you chose other please explain.
  15. Z

    News Uncovering the Truth: The Hidden Agendas in American Government Legislation

    This is not a conspiracy theory, just so you know. This is all based on the truth of how American government works. And, hopefully, this is a non-partisan issue that we can all agree on. Critics of government spending and taxation complain that we should cut programs like Social Security...
  16. enigma

    Government has decided to build a power plant nextdoor

    Here's an interresting poll for you all. The government has decided to build a power plant nextdoor. You have no way to convince them to put it elsewhere (just assume you drew the short straw). You also don't have the means to move away for at least 10 years. They do give you the choice...
  17. J

    News How To Take Control Of Your Government

    You have a right to petition, this right can also be done far more effeciently over the internet at petition.com-in theory this would be a free website where people could freely and reasonably discuss the issues and for once the common man and women would have a chance to let there particular...
  18. T

    US Gov & UFOs: What Do They Know?

    What do you think that the US government is hiding in the papers that were "Inked" (The papers pertaing to UFO investigations)?
  19. I

    News Who are the political parties in Ontario and what do they stand for?

    I'm 18 and with the election coming up in October, I'm not sure who to vote for. My parents do not vote very often. I'm just wondering, could anyone tell me about the different parties?
  20. Zantra

    UFOs: The Government and Public's Viewpoint

    It's obvious to me that most are unwilling to even consider the existence of UFOs as a valid possibility in the face of even hard evidence. People are so trained to believe that UFO's are a hoax, and this is further reinforced by idiots making stuff up and doctoring photos that it's destroyed...
  21. K

    Is Government Necessary for the Fulfillment of All Natural Desires?

    Government ----> Good or Bad? Let's take a look at Government from the natural desires point of view. Is Government necessary for the fulfillment of all ones natural (good) desires? Such as health, protection, etc.? I used to think that an Anarchist state is the most natural state we can...
  22. S

    News Even Less Religion In Our Government Yay

    Even Less Religion In Our Government Yay! http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/07/01/tencommandments.appeal.ap/index.html The ten commandments monument in front of an alabama state supreme court building must go! Yay! man this past year the supreme court sure has done some nice and LOGICAL things!
  23. G

    News Government in exile - cheating the constitution

    Redistrcting is a tried and true method for an incumbent majority party to try to maintain this majority. It involves grouping the voters into districts in such a way as to maximize the desired party affiliation across all the voting districts. This is, inevitably, the first thing a party...
  24. S

    News Revolution New form of government.: Kleptocracy

    President Bush is touring the midwest trying to drum up support for his decidedly not "teeny-tiny" tax cut, which includes tax cuts on stock dividend income and raises the amount of money that business can write off from equipment purchases to $100,000 from $25,000. Meanwhile, stocks have...
  25. K

    News I know why our government has been acting strange:

    makes sense eh?
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