what are the features of a federal government?
79667
The structure of federal governments vary from institution to institution based on a broad definition of federation. Students of federal governments will note that within a basic federal political system, there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and govern through common institutions with overlapping or shared powers as prescribed by a constitution.\n\nThe United States is considered the first modern federation. After gaining independance from Britain, the U.S. adopted its first constitution, Articles of Confederation in 1781. This was the first step towards federalism by establishing the federal congress. Yet, congress was limited as to its ability to pursue, economic, military, and judiciary reform. In 1787, federal congress participated in what is known as the Philadelphia Convention and by 1789, the U.S. was officially a federation.\n\nOther nation-states followed suit in establishing federal governments: Switzerland (1848); Canada (1867); Germany (1871 and again 1949); Australia (1901); Austria (1920) and again 1945
71351
What an interesting question, and so topical.  \n\nThe relationship between the government and the governed is markedly different from place to place and even time to time.  To make it really short, without getting into abstract arguments, a government is a "system of social control under which the right to make laws, and the right to enforce them, is vested in a particular group in society."  In the United States, where the system of government consists of a representative republic, the federal government consists of three branches, two of which, the executive and the legislative, are headed and controled by elected officials as provided for in the Constitution.  However, unlike many other countries, the geography, diversity and history of the United States has resulted in a complex system of laws that can vary widely based on the location in which a person lives.  So while everyone is governed and affected in certain aspects of life similarly by the federal government, one also is affected by the laws of the state in which one lives.  \n\nIt can be complex and I have provided an article on in my sources list for you to read in more detail.\n\n"American people" are a very diverse group comprising almost all races, creeds, and national origins, although the original founders of the government of the United States were primarily of European origin. Mny of the governing concepts and principles were heavily influenced by the classical education of the founding fathers and reflect many philosophical influences and practical issues that were contemporary in the late 18th century from current earlier Scottish, English, and French authors like Locke, Rousseau, Smith, et al.\n\nThe one constant in the American government over the years has been the flexibility of the constitution, which provides the government and its governed the possibility to make necessary changes as time passes in order to change the legal framework in which Americans live while guaranteeing them freedoms which are inmutable.  So while the American people have grown more diverse, their rights are protected by the same instrument that gives them the power to change their elected officials.  Some people like to say that the Government of the United States is "Of the people, for the people and by the people." \n\nHowever, it would be a serious fallacy to associate a vast body of 300 million people with a single government, no matter how it is constituted.  Many policies in the United States are controversial.  For example, the death penalty is supported in only certain states, and not in others.  A man convicted of murder in one state will receive a life sentence, but in another will get an injection of sodium pentathol.   no to try and paint "The American People" with one brush would be a mistake.  \n\nThere are many values that many Americans hold in common.  Many of these are enshrined in the constitution.  Many are unwritten but can be discerned in a short stay in the United States.  As Winston Churchill once famously said "you can count on the Americans to, after they have tried every thing else, to eventually do the right thing."  Eventually, through the system of checks and balances, justice generally prevails (though it can take a long time sometimes) and this is why even when the American Government may be unpopular abroad, millions of people each year seek to immigrate there from less fortunate places.  \n\nDisclaimer: Taking advice seriously from a person using Bubba as a screen name could be hazardous for your health. It has previously been known to impair judgement and result in unintended consequences and ugly scenes played out late at night in trailer parks.
1100328
Government is a system of social control under which the right to make laws, and the right to enforce them, is vested in a particular group in society. \n\nGovernments are distinguished by whether power is held by one man, a few, or a majority. Today, it is common to distinguish between types of government on the basis of institutional organization and the degree of control exercised over the society.\n\nOrganizationally, governments may be classified into parliamentary or presidential systems, depending on the relationship between executive and legislature. Government may also be classified according to the distribution of power at different levels. \n\nThe basic law determining the form of government is called the constitution and may be written, as in the United States, or largely unwritten, as in Great Britain. Modern governments perform many functions besides the traditional ones of providing internal and external security, order, and justice; most are involved in providing welfare services, regulating the economy, and establishing educational systems. The extreme case of governmental regulation of every aspect of people's lives is totalitarianism.
317085
1.national territory\n2.Declaration of principles and state policies\n3.Bill of rights\n4.citizenship\n5.suffrage\n6.Legislative department\n7.executive department\n8.judicial department\n9.Constitutional Commissions\n10.local Government\n11.Accountability of public officers\n12.national economy and patrimony\n13.Social justice and human rights\n14.education, science and technology, arts\n15.the family\n16.general provisions\n17.amendments or revisions\n18 transitory provisions\n\nplz vote best answer...
230526
The government of the United States, established by the U.S. Constitution, is a federal republic of individual states. The laws of the United States are contained in Acts of Congress; administrative regulations, and judicial cases interpreting the statutes and regulations. The federal government has three branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial. Through "checks and balances", each of these branches has some authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other two branches, and has some of its authority, in turn, regulated by one or two other branches.\n\nBecause of the federal government's size, broad powers and capabilities, it is widely considered the most powerful government in the world and the sole remaining superpower. Given their great powers in the world and nation, the President of the United States and his White House-based aides and Cabinet officials often are referred to as the most powerful people in the world.\n\nLegislative branch\nMain article: United States Congress \nThe Constitution grants all legislative powers of the federal government to the Congress, which is divided into two chambers, a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of two members from each state as provided by the Constitution. Membership in the House is based on each state's population, and its size is therefore not specified in the Constitution. Members of the House and Senate are elected by first-past-the-post voting in every state except Louisiana and Washington, which have runoffs.\n\nThe Constitution does not specifically call for the establishment of Congressional committees. As the nation grew, however, so did the need for investigating pending legislation more thoroughly. The 108th Congress (2003-2005) had 19 standing committees in the House and 17 in the Senate, plus four joint permanent committees with members from both houses overseeing the Library of Congress, printing, taxation, and the economy. In addition, each house can name special, or select, committees to study specific problems. Because of an increase in workload, the standing committees have also spawned some 150 subcommittees.\n\nThe Congress has the responsibility to monitor and influence aspects of the executive branch. Congressional oversight prevents waste and fraud, protects civil liberties and individual rights, ensures executive compliance with the law, gathers information for making laws and educating the public, and evaluates executive performance. It applies to cabinet departments, executive agencies, regulatory commissions, and the presidency. Congress's oversight function takes many forms:\n\nCommittee inquiries and hearings; \nFormal consultations with and reports from the President; \nSenate advice and consent for presidential nominations and for treaties; \nHouse impeachment proceedings and subsequent Senate trials; \nHouse and Senate proceedings under the 25th Amendment in the event that the President becomes disabled, or the office of the Vice President falls vacant; \nInformal meetings between legislators and executive officials; \nCongressional membership on governmental commissions; \nStudies by congressional committees and support agencies such as the Congressional Budget Office, and the Government Accountability Office, both of which are arms of Congress. \n\nResponsibilities of a Congressman\nEach individual Congressman must assume five roles. These roles include: legislator, committee member, representative of their constituents, servant of their constituents, and politician.\n\nPowers of Congress\nThe Constitution grants numerous powers to Congress. These include the power to: lay and collect taxes, pay debts, provide for common defense and general welfare of the U.S., borrow money on the credit of the U.S., regulate commerce with other nations, establish a uniform rule of naturalization, coin money and regulate its value, provide for punishment of counterfeiting, establish post
121434
Legislative, Executive, and Judicial
646732
There's federal stuff, check this out
1059627
Federal goverrnment oversees the states. Imagine each state as it's own country then giving them a higher authority to answer to.
26995
5 main principles are:\nPopular Sovereignty \nLimited Government \nFederalism \nSeparation of Powers \nChecks and Balances\n\nthe 7 ARTICLES are:\nArticle 1- establishes legislative branch\nArticle 2- Establishes and describes executive branch\nArticle 3- Describes and establishes Judicial branch\nArticle 4- States power and limits- describes the relationship between central gov't and state gov't\nArticle 5- describes how to amend the constitution\nArticle 6- Establishes Federal power and makes the constitution the "law of the land"\nArticle 7- Tells how to ratify the constitution
771448
Executive Branch.  \n\nThe cabinet is part of the executive branch.
1087004
Our system of Government was set up as a Republic.  they were well afraid of too strong of Federal Government and sit the nation up as individual states and the Federal Government to only have that power that was given it, \n\nBasicly each state was to have the right and ability to be self governing.\n\nWell that went to >>>> in a handbasket before too long and that was one of the main issues of the civil war, with the south supporting state rights and the union supporting a much stronger and powerful federal government.\n\nSo now we have federal income tax ( which is actually unconstitutional) but who listens to me.  And a Federal Army, not merley each state supply troops for a Federal defense.\n\nBut some issues like capital punishment,  murder laws, theft laws, and of course Probate laws, have been left alone for now, since I guess there is not enouigh money in them for the feds to want to be invovled.
568550
the Government resides.
45570
Here's a really great list... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_forms_of_government
258295
I assume you are refering to the United States government? Keep in mind that not everyone on Answers is American.\n\nAt any rate, function is a bit too strong a word. However, the current federal system came into being with the radification of the constitution, which began in 1787 and was completed in 1790. The Constitution took effect in 1988 when it had been ratified by 9 of the 13 states. The new federal government began opperations in 1789.\n\nFrom 1777 to 1788, the federal government was defined by the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation remained in effect until the 13th state ratified the constitution in 1790. The government defined by the Articles was strickly speaking a federal system, but the federal government couldn't really do anything, so the systme didn't last very long.
625893
The role of the government is to provide structure and consistency. Looking at the Constitution (Preamble), there are five things that were the goal of the federal government: "establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty".\n\nLiberals as a party focus mainly on the "promote the general Welfare and secure the blessings of Liberty". Conservatives focus more on the "ensure domestic Tranquility [and] provide for the common Defense". But let's look at each of these five goals relative to morality.\n\nIf your goal is promoting welfare, then morality isn't much of an issue. People generally agree that feeding people is good, that murder/mayhem in the streets is bad, that paved roads and clean drinking water are good, that driving 90 in a school zone or residential neighborhood is bad, and so on.\n\nFor defense, again generally people agree that being safe is good, police (as a concept) are good, a strong military (for defense) is good, buildings blowing up is bad, etc. How much can be sacrificed to achieve these is a different issue (see liberty, below). So again, morality isn't a big factor in these issues.\n\nFor "establish Justice", it doesn't matter what your morality is, justice is good. What constitutes justice may vary, but that goes more to the other issues (liberty and tranquility, see below). So again, the concept of wanting justice by itself is not morality-dependent.\n\nWhich leaves us with the balance between ensuring domestic tranquility and ensuring the blessings of liberty. Here's where we get interesting. \n\nConservatives want tranquility, harmony, consistency, even at the expense of some liberty interests. Liberals want greater personal liberties, even if that means letting some criminals go free or not regulating certain behaviors, thus impacting tranquility. \n\nMorality is the set of beliefs that determine what is more important to us. Valuing liberty over tranquility means allowing other people to do things you don't approve of, while holding tranquility over liberty means that you want your values to apply to everyone, in order to avoid conflict.\n\nIs the right to choose who you want to marry (regardless of race or gender) more important than preserving a traditional historical opposite-sex same-race marriage? Until 1967, mixed-race marriages were illegal in many states (mostly conservative ones) because marriage was "by definition" a union between people of the same race. It was a moral issue, because their religions didn't favor mixed-race marriage. The US Supreme Court said that legal restrictions shouldn't be based on religions dogma, and that the right to marry who you want isn't subject to state controls. So far, that ruling only applies relative to race-based decisions, not gender-based decisions.\n\nIs it right for a woman to choose what happens inside her own body? The conservative view is that society as a whole mandates controls, and that based on religious beliefs since the embryo can become a person it should be treated as already being a person. Hence abortion is immoral. However, let's say you don't share the same religious perspective. Let's say you believe that it is the soul that makes someone human, and the soul doesn't show up until the fetus is capable of independent life (viability). In that case, based on your religious beliefs, terminating a pregnancy before the soul enters the body is not murder. How can you prove when the soul enters the body (conception, viability, birth)? You can't. It's a religious issue. So the US Supreme Court went with a medical (not religious) definition of life, and said that states cannot dictate religious definitions as a matter of law.\n\nAmerica is a republic. That means we collectively get together and elect people to make decisions for us. In a p
20629
In the United States, our government is the system of power that acts on behalf of its people. The U.S. government was designed to serve the American people. Our government protects our rights and preserves our freedoms. Governments are set up to make and enforce laws. In this section, we will look at the basic types of governments in the world, yet the main emphasis will be placed on the understanding our American government system.\n\nIn the United States there are three levels of government. The federal government (national level) makes and enforces laws for our nation. The fifty state governments (state level) make and enforce laws for their respective states. Each city or town in which a person lives has a city or town government (local level) that makes and enforces laws for their community. The most powerful of the three levels is our federal (national level) government.
231860
Federal Republicanism.  a system of divided and difused powers.