The Role of Government in Society

Government is the vehicle for governance of society. It is the establishment and enforcement of rules 

and provisioning of basic services which society requires but which would otherwise not be available or 

might be in conflict between individuals and the various subdivisions within society

Government is necessary. This is something that has been recognized for nearly as long as there have 

been human societies. With settled society, which first began roughly 12,000 years ago, came 

agriculture, and, for the first time, people could develop a surplus. This made it necessary to develop a system to organize people and resources. In other words, a government.

Why do governments exist? One major reason is that they create rules. But what rules are necessary or 

desirable? That is open to question, and different types of governments have certainly created a wide 

Governments almost certainly originated with the need to protect people from conflicts and to provide 

law and order. Why have conflicts among people happened throughout history? Many people, both famous and ordinary, have tried to answer that question. Perhaps human nature dictates selfishness, and people inevitably will come to blows over who gets what property or privilege. Or maybe, as KARL MARX explains, it is because the very idea of “PROPERTY” makes people selfish and greedy.

Whatever the reasons, governments first evolved as people discovered that protection was easier if they stayed together in groups and if they all agreed that one (or some) in the group should have more power than others. This recognition is the basis of SOVEREIGNTY, or the right of a group (later a country) 

Part of a government’s function is to protect its citizens from outside attack. Ancient Chinese emperors 

constructed a “Great Wall” to defend the borders of their empire. A country, then, needs to not only 

protect its citizens from one another, but it needs to organize to prevent outside attack.

Sometimes they have built Great Walls and guarded them carefully from invaders. Other times they 

have led their followers to safe areas protected by high mountains, wide rivers, or vast deserts. 

Historically, they have raised armies, and the most successful ones have trained and armed special groups to defend the rest. Indeed in the twentieth century, governments have formed alliances and fought great world wars in the name of protection and order.

In more recent years, government responsibilities have extended to the economy and public service. An early principle of capitalism dictates that markets should be free from government control. But when economies spun out of control during the 1930s, and countries sank into great depressions, governments acted. The United States Congress created the FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM in the early 

twentieth century to ward off inflation and monitor the value of the dollar. FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT and his “BRAIN TRUST” devised New Deal programs to shock the country into prosperity.

Governments become involved with the economic workings of their countries. In the 1930s, the Federal Reserve System began to take a role in helping the American economy prevent another depression by locating currency reserves at centralized banks.

Perhaps government responsibility to provide social programs to its citizens is the most controversial of all.

In the United States the tradition began with the New Deal programs, many of which provided people with relief through jobs, payments, and food. During the 1960s PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON unveiled his “GREAT SOCIETY” programs aimed at eliminating poverty in the entire country. Many European 

countries today provide national medical insurance and extensive welfare benefits. Many Americans 

criticize these programs as expensive ventures that destroy the individual’s sense of responsibility for his/her own well being. So the debate over the proper role of government in providing for its people’s 

general welfare is still alive and well today.

Though the rules and responsibilities vary greatly through time and place, governments must create 

them. Governments provide the parameters for everyday behavior for citizens, protect them from 

outside interference, and often provide for their well-being and happiness.

The development of governments has been recognized for centuries as a conscious action, under the 

idea of the social contract. This theory states that individuals agree to surrender some rights to a ruling authority in order to protect the rest of their rights. In other words, they create a government so that 

there is a single system that tells everyone what they can and cannot do. You may not steal; you may not murder. 

By agreeing to sacrifice some individual freedoms, people found a way to protect the community against things that hurt everyone, things like theft and murder. Although the term ‘social contract’ is from the Enlightenment era of the 17th century, this basic idea exists in Western history as far back as ancient Greece and is also found in the Judeo-Christian Old Testament and Buddhist texts dating back to the second century B.C.

The four main roles of government are: they ensure that citizens follow the law; they make sure that 

citizens do not encroach on each other’s rights; they create the laws and regulations of the state; they 

maintain positive and mutually beneficial relations with the governments of other states.

Governments are necessary to maintain law and order. Laws are essential for society to function. The government provides safety and security for its people. Government is responsible for providing infrastructure like build and maintain roads, run hospitals and schools.

From the above, we can conclude that societies themselves make up government. People make up 

societies and they live within the tenets of prescribed rules and regulations. Where there is society, there is governance.

Student, Department of English and Literary Studies, Faculty of Arts, Delta State University, Abraka.

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