History of Government

Introduction

The despotic empires of Egypt, Sumer, Assyria, Persia, and Macedonia were followed by the rise of city-states, the first self-governing communities, in which the rule of law predominated and state officials were responsible to the citizens who chose them. The city-states of Greece, such as Athens, Corinth, and Sparta, and of that part of Asia Minor dominated or influenced by the Greeks, provided the material for the speculative political theories of Plato and Aristotle.

Aristotle’s System

Aristotle’s system of classifying states, which influenced subsequent political thought for centuries, was based on a simple criterion: good governments are those that best serve the general welfare; bad governments are those that subordinate the general good to the good of the individuals in power. Aristotle distinguished three categories of government: monarchy, government by a single individual; aristocracy, government by a select few; and democracy, government by many. The later Greek philosophers, influenced by Aristotle, distinguished three degenerate forms of the classes of government defined by him. These were, respectively, tyranny, rule by an individual in his or her own interest; oligarchy, rule by a few people in their own interest; and ochlocracy, mob rule. Still other categories of lasting historical significance are theocracy, rule by religious leaders; and bureaucracy, the excessive domination of government by administrative officials.

Rome

Ancient Rome, which evolved from a city-republic to the seat of a world empire, also greatly influenced the development of government in the Western world. This influence was derived in part from the great Roman achievement in formulating clearly for the first time the principle that constitutional law, establishing the sovereignty of the state, is superior to ordinary law, such as that created by legislative enactments.

After the fall of Rome, the Roman concept of a universal dominion was kept alive during the Middle Ages through the formation of the Holy Roman Empire; and also, in part, by the establishment, through canon law and ecclesiastical courts with jurisdiction over secular affairs, of the ruling body of the Roman Catholic church. The effect of these influences was to retard the development of national territories and governments after tendencies in that direction had manifested themselves among the feudal principalities of Europe. On the other hand, the struggle of the feudal barons to limit the absolute power of their monarchs eventually produced many contributions to the theory and institutions of representative government. During the Middle Ages arose the commercial city-states of Europe that formed the Hanseatic League and the powerful Italian city-republics or communes.

National Governments

The final emergence of national governments is attributed to two principal causes. One comprises a number of underlying economic causes, including a great expansion in trade and the development of manufacturing. These conditions began to undermine the feudal system, which was based on isolated and self-sufficient economic units, and to make necessary the creation of large political units. The other cause was the Reformation, which succeeded in eliminating the restraining influence of the Catholic church on political development in a number of European countries.

The modern nation-state became a definite form of government in the 16th century. It was almost entirely dynastic and autocratic. The will of the reigning monarch, in theory and often in practice, was unlimited; the famous aphorism of King Louis XIV of France, “L’Etat, c’est moi”(“I am the state”), was not an idle boast, but an expression of existing reality.

In time, however, the demand of the bourgeoisie for constitutional and representative government made itself felt, and the unlimited powers of monarchs began to be challenged. In England, the Glorious Revolution in 1688 restricted such powers and established the preeminence of Parliament. This tendency culminated in two events of historic importance, the American Revolution, beginning in 1775, and the French Revolution, beginning in 1789. Historians generally date the rise of modern democratic government from these events.

History of Government in the 19th and 20th Century

The history of government in the 19th century and in part of the 20th is notable for the broadening of the political base of government through extension of suffrage and other reforms. A tendency that became especially marked in the 20th century was the development and implementation of the concept that government, in addition to maintaining order and administering justice, must be an instrument for administering public and social services including, among many others, conservation of natural resources, scientific research, education, and social security.

Between 1945 and 1951, the Labour Party government of Great Britain extended the responsibilities of government to include nationalization of a number of basic industries in a need for stringent economic planning. Other outstanding developments of the 20th century were the appearance of the corporative state and of totalitarian governments in a number of countries, and the first so-called proletarian dictatorship in history, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. From the late 1940s until the end of the 1980s, most eastern European countries adjacent to or near the USSR had governments similar in many respects to that of the USSR.

Source: “Government”Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia

See Also

Government Censorship
Absolutism
Overthrow of Government
Reproduction of law in Government sites