Government

Government is one of humanity's oldest and most important institutions. From earliest times, some kind of government has been a vital part of every society. This is because every society needs some people to make and enforce decisions that affect conduct within the group. The term government also refers to the process of exercising power in a group.

Any formal or informal group--a family, a church, a baseball team, a club, a corporation, a labor union--may be said to have government. But when we speak of government, we generally mean public government, such as that of a nation, a state, a province, a city, or a village. This article mainly discusses the nature and powers of public governments. Government of some kind affects every human activity in important ways. For that reason, most political scientists (specialists in the study of government) believe that government should not be studied by itself. They urge that when we study government we should also know something about anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, science, and sociology.