Political Theory of Government

Political theory is considered as the sub-branch of ethics and economics which also makes it a branch of politics. It is the theory that belongs to the government. Basically, ethics applies not only to government but also to every human being because it is the science of human action. It tells how one should behave whereas politics can be considered as the science of human action in societies.

There are three different anarchies in the political theory hold major importance. They are capitalism, socialism, and communism. Governments have the ability to create and implement the laws of the land. Particularly speaking, human beings are the only species in the world to have those abilities. Now the question is what has created these political bodies and do we need them for our living? If we need them, why?

During the emergence of the Homo sapiens which has taken place almost 40,000 years ago, the human beings existed in small tribes and bands. A band is a group of birth or marriage related people with at least five to seventy-five in number whereas a tribe has hundreds of people where there is no need for everyone to be related. It has been told that the Homo sapiens lived in non-governmental societies for almost 40,000 years.

The chiefdoms came into existence around 5,500 BC. The Chiefdoms are bigger than tribes but eventually smaller than nations. With the increasing population, a need for control over the conflict and the disorder of the nation arouse.

For a nation, the population should be more than fifty thousand. Societies can consist of ten thousands, but a nation needs at least fifty thousand to fill them up. Around 7,500 ago there has been a remarkable change with the rise of chiefdoms. In order to safeguard themselves from strangers, people wanted to learn how to encounter the strangers. This eventually resulted in one person becoming the teacher of the whole chiefdom. This person began to exercise monopoly on the right to use force.

This is the root cause for the emergence of government and the political theory since the legal use of force is the underlying principle of government. Now government with its role to protect the individual against the initiation of force has to step it meet the need of the people.

The Political theory of government notes that government is an instrument of compulsion, prohibition, appropriation and extinction. Governments operations in the past have been terrific some times.

Government is dangerous because of the exclusive power it holds over the people.

Questions

• What is a tribe?
• Why government is dangerous?