What is a Government?

A government is a service provider to its constituents.  The services that it provides generally serve one or both of two objectives...

• Facilitating security - the state of being free from danger or threat.
• Facilitating prosperity - the condition of being successful or thriving.

A government's constituents vary by type. In strict monarchies, it's a single family.  In an aristocracy, it's several families.  In an oligarchy, it's members of a class.  In a democracy, it's voters.  In communism, in theory, is everyone in a particular geography.  Constituents usually have the ability to influence how their government operates and the services it provides.  Constituencies are often stratified with some tiers receiving more benefit or have an ability to exert more influence than others. Monarchies and aristocracies are pretty much out of vogue, but oligarchies are thriving.  So much so that democracies and communist societies struggle with a constant pull, with notable failures, toward oligarchies.   

It gets even more complex when you consider that constituents may themselves be principalities rather than individuals.  This is the case in the United States, the European Union, what used to be the Soviet Union, and the "intergovernmental" system in and around the United Nations.

A principality is a thing with a government.  Citizens are individuals that meet some criteria that enables them to be associated with a principality.  Usually it's being born in a particular geographic region.  Frequently, it's by being adopted or "naturalized" as a citizen by going through some training, ritual, or paying a fee.  Sometimes, but not always, being a citizen makes you a constituent.  Sometimes, but not always, being a citizen enables you to benefit from some of the services provided by the government of the principality.

Principalities also have implicated non-constituents.  In monarchies and aristocracies it's anyone who is not a family member.  In an oligarchy, it's anyone who isn't a member of the class or classes.  In democracies, it's anyone who isn't a voter.  Note that implicated non-constituents include implicated non-citizens and other principalities.  Implicated non-constituents are implicated because the actions of a government has an impact on their lives.  Non-constituents do not have a direct ability to influence how the government operates and the services it provides. Non-constituents often, but not always, receive indirect benefits from the services provided by a government.  All too frequently non-constituents, and occasionally constituents, are persecuted.    Note that non-constituents may play key roles in the operation of governments. This may provide an indirect ability to influence.

For the purpose of this topic, we'll call the combination of constituents and non-constituents that are addressed by the activities of a particular government a society.  Societies are often subdivided into communities, groups of constituents and/or non-constituents that share a collection of common interests.

In a subsequent post I'll try to drill more deeply into the services that a government provides.