The Roles of a Government - Essay Example

Running Head: The Roles of the Government THE ROLES OF A GOVERNMENT Outline INTRODUCTION: 3 MILITARY DEFENSE 4 INTERNAL SECURITY 5 ECONOMIC SECURITY 6 SOCIAL SECURITY 8 HEALTH CARE 9 EDUCATION 10 References 12 INTRODUCTION: Government is a body within any organization that has power to effect and uphold the rule of law and other rules and regulations. A government refers to the central authority that governs over a jurisdiction. There are various levels of governments and this depends on the various countries. Some of the levels of government include the central government, local government, state government and the federal government. The government can take various forms and this includes constitutional monarchy which is a government with a King whose power is strictly limited by the government, Democracy a government where power is held by the people, Dictatorship a government where the ruler holds all the power, Monarchy where power is inherited and passed on to the ruler’s heir and many more there are governments within the world that adopted hybrid systems of government that are a combination of a number of types of governments, examples are modern Iran whose hybrid government is a combination of theocratic institutions and democracy and the Netherlands whose government is a combination of democracy and monarchy (Adler, 1996). A government’s fundamental role is to maintain basic security and social order within its framework. In the words of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes people tend to prefer submission to a government dominated by a sovereign rather than a system where there is no government, a system also known as anarchy therefore people in a community will submit to a government to create for themselves a system security and social order. We can see that states or nations whose populations live under a state of anarchy there is a distinct condition of turmoil and confusion amongst them since each and every one of them has to fend for themselves and there is no provision of basic social amenities by a defined body hence it is important to have a central governing body be it political, religious or hierarchical and which is charged through its machinery to uphold the rule of law and ensure that every member of society under its governance is able to access the basic social amenities that is education, affordable health care and a shelter to live in (Schulze, 1994). ROLES OF GOVERNMENT MILITARY DEFENSE It’s the role of the government to protect its citizens from its neighbors or potential non neighbors from any threat that they may pose from outside the countrys borders. This necessitates the need of a military through which defense can be enhanced. In the medieval times families relied on strong family members to protect them, their crops in the farms and animals from theft or destruction by neighbors or wild animals. During this trying times family members fought as one unit to protect their interests. During this times where populations have grown to big numbers governments should through its army train its members to work as one unit during times where utmost unity is needed to overcome insurgents who pose a threat to the security of their nations populations despite the fact that they may not have any family ties (Nun, 2003). It is through its armies that a government’s ability to curb an oncoming threat to its status can be analyzed and therefore there is a strong need to keep on reinforcing its military power by acquiring state of the art military technology and training more forces to add up its military force. There is also a need to for specialized training amongst the military to ensure that there is an adequate number of the force whom can work with complicated military equipment to enhance performance of the military and to ensure that an oncoming threat is detected on time. INTERNAL SECURITY It is the role of the government to ensure that it maintains internal security within the borders where it is charged with governing. It does this through entrenchment of laws which are to be followed by every member of society and through its police force they will ensure that offenders of the law are arrested and charged in the criminal courts where justice will be meted on to the afflicted parties. It is also the role of the government to ensure that its citizens are duly registered and accorded them proper identification. Through this, identifying of immigrants is made easier and the right measures taken to reduce the threat of illegal immigrants in the country. Registration of the citizenry is also important to ensure that a country’s resources are equally distributed and that any problems that can arise from inequality are handled using the right means and policies. It is also important for the government so that it can establish the densely populated areas to ensure that security forces sent to these areas are adequate to enforce the rule of law in these areas (Schulze, 1994). It is also through the police that any threats detected by members of the public can be reported and the appropriate measures taken to neutralize the threat. Therefore it is of utmost importance to set up interlinked police stations all over the entirety of a nation to ensure reporting of offenders of the law is an easy task for the public. A government should also ensure that each and every station has good communication between other stations and the public as well and this will enhance the reporting and quick response to any threat that may be posed (Adler, 1996). ECONOMIC SECURITY It is the role of the government to ensure that a nation’s economic security is maintained and enhanced where it is possible. This is a role a government has to put utmost care and priority to ensure that there is stability in other functions of the country. A government plays the role of improving and enhancing economic security through policy formulation that favors its economy (Nun, 2003). There is need to note that some of the people charged with leadership in many governments formulate policies that are to the benefit of the few in this leadership hierarchy giving little or no consideration to the vast majority of the populations in these nations, therefore there is need for a government to enact within its laws independent bodies through which the citizenry’s benefit is looked at by keeping those charged with formulation of laws under checks and balances. A government ensures that it has a stable currency through checks to ensure that currency counterfeiting is made impossible and or done away with through control of production. It is important for the government to guard against currency counterfeiting is this is very harmful to an economy. The government needs to make mechanisms which deter, frustrate and prevent dishonest people from making their own currencies and also ensure that people who are caught trying to do so are punished to deter others. A government should also set price control for players in its economies, this is done through setting up price floors a price below which players in the chain production shouldn’t go below and also price ceilings prices above which these players that is producers, wholesalers and retailers should not go above. This plays a big role in ensuring that the citizenry whom are the consumers are protected from exploitation by traders who are after increasing their profitability (Hillman, 2003). There should also be regulation of imports and exports by governments since they are charged by the citizenry to ensure that trade between itself and other governments are fair. For a government to ensure economic security it should regulate imports so as to ensure that products imported compete fairly with locally produced goods. This regulation should be well regulated to ensure that local producers are gaining from trade in their own economy and that imported goods are not unfairly getting more attention from local consumers, though as a matter of fact products produced in the market should have some competition from imports, a means that will ensure that local producers are producing goods of a quality higher or comparable to the imported goods (Nun, 2003). Exports should also be regulated to ensure that products are being purchased by foreign consumers at the right price and that goods been exported are the excess remaining from goods that are enough for consumption by the local consumer. Rarely do you find a government that is self sustaining therefore there is need for trade with other nations for physical goods and also services through transfer of skills therefore a government should ensure that it carries out negotiations with nations with whom it intends to trade to enhance waivers on trade tariffs that increase the cost of acquiring the products it needs (Feng, 2003). SOCIAL SECURITY In the medieval years, social security in society was done through parents bearing enough children to ensure that there were some of them who survived long enough to take care of their parents when they grew old. In the modern times Governments have taken up the role of taking care of the elderly since nowadays social security is not viewed in the sense that giving birth to many children will ensure that some of them survive long enough to take care of their parents (Hillman, 2003). Governments, as a measure to ensure providence of social security to its elderly have enacted bodies through which all working individuals in their economies are required to contribute a small portion of their earnings to this provident funds amounts which will be recoverable by individuals once they have attained retirement age. This is a positive move by governments to ensure that once an individual has retired there will be an amount provided to them for sustenance and also small investments for those who want to. Governments have also gone further and introduced medical insurance to its citizens through periodical small contribution to government insurance fund amounts which are used to cater for medical expenses incurred by members of the funds and their families. However, many governments have not taken the issue of social security as a serious responsibility bestowed upon them. It is necessary for any citizenry to rely on the government for the safeguarding of their welfare and one of the best ways of achieving this is through the social security provision which is a responsibility of the government (Adler, 1996). HEALTH CARE Governments play a major role in ensuring that the citizenry can access health care free or at affordable rates by all classes in the nation. This is done through funding directly or providing subsidies for players in these sectors (Hillman, 2003). The government also has a role to play by enacting laws regulating who can legally engage in the medical practice by formulating bodies charged with licensing practitioners. This body(s) should have sufficient number of license inspectors who often carry out inspections in medical institutions to ensure that all practicing institutions are duly licensed a way that will prove useful to reduce mortality rates in the nation. In the case of epidemics governments are charged with providence of vaccination drugs to reduce the number of those afflicted and also enforcing quarantines to areas affected, where the diseases are not treatable or stocks of vaccines are not enough to provide for all its members of the nation (Feng, 2003). A government is also charged with the responsibility of training practitioners in its education institutions and also providing funding for research to be carried out in these institutions to ensure that vaccines and treatments for new ailments are discovered to avoid loss off life through scourges. It is also the duty of the government to educate the majority of its population for preventative measures to avoidable diseases (Nun, 2003). ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY Government plays a crucial role in ensuring protected use of public resources a means through which it creates a balance. A government should control fishing in its lakes to avoid over fishing this can be brought under check by regulating the number of times fishing vessels carry out their activities and also educating the masses on fish rearing techniques to reduce over reliance on naturally bred fish in the sea’s and lakes Governments should also control lumbering to avoid deforestation especially in water catchments areas. Mining especially for irreplaceable resources like minerals, oil should be controlled to ensure that a balance is created in the eco-system (Hillman, 2003). Environmental protection has not been taking place in many nations and this has caused a vast degradation on the eco-system. This is due to self centered individuals who don’t have any care for the future. World bodies like the United Nations should be with the responsibility setting standards of environmental protection measures for all nations and people in power should be charged with enforcing these policies and those who don’t follow should be charged by independent bodies charged with enforcing the policies. EDUCATION Governments play the role of providing education through direct funding or through providence of subsidies. Governments should ensure that the majority of its population is able to access affordable education especially at the primary and secondary levels of education (Hillman, 2003). In the millennium development goals set by the United Nations for any nation to be considered as a developed nation they governments should provide free education especially at the primary level to ensure that a big majority of the population are able to read and write. Reducing the level of illiteracy in any nation is a positive move towards development (Adler, 1996). Many nations especially in sub Saharan Africa are yet to achieve this goal this is because of dictatorial forms of ruling and selfishness of policy makers that don’t include basic needs like education as principal requirements in their budgets for the benefit of the citizens and as a means to secure a better future for their country through their youths who are the future leaders in these nations (Nun, 2003). CONCLUSION: It is of utmost importance that any government plays all its roles as is required of it by its citizenry. This it can do by ensuring that it has a military defense that is sound and is able to curb any threat directed to the nation this can be enabled by the government through acquisition of state of the art technology and skills to ensure that potential threats are detected and dissolved before they become problems. A government should also ensure that through it police force internal security it upheld through the rule of law and offenders brought to book in accordance to set out guidelines. it is also the duty of the government to ensure that its elderly population is well taken care off through providing them with amounts that are able to sustain them from the social security funds that the individuals will have contributed during their working life. Through providence of affordable and easily accessible health care by its population a government will have made a major step towards sustainable development because with a healthy nation production is likely to increase or improve (Feng, 2003). It’s also of utmost importance for a government to ensure that it makes policies to be followed by the citizenry to ensure that environment protection is enhanced and where no such policies exist in nations International bodies should come in and ensure that governments take the best care for their environment (Hillman, 2003). Education is also a sector that all governments should ensure that its has provided and is available for all the youths whom will be charged with formulating policies for their nations in the future. Nations that ensure that literacy levels in the country(s) have hope that the citizenry will better cope with any problems in the future. References Adler, Mortimer J. (1996). The Common Sense of Politics. Fordham University Press, New York pp 124 Schulze, Hagen (1994). States, Nations and Nationalism. Blackwell Publishers Inc, Massachusetts, USA. pp 236 -360 Feng, Yi. (2003). Democracy, governance and economic performance. Cambridge, Mass: MIT pp. 23 Nun, José. (2003). Democracy: government of the people or government of the politicians. Lanham, Md. : Rowan & Littlefield. 69 - 165 Hillman, Arye L. (2003) Public finance and public policy: responsibilities and limitations of government. New York : Cambridge University Press. 123 - 156 Read More