ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the various primary functions of government and identifies several contrasting views of government. It explains the liberal, conservative, radical, reactionary, and anarchist philosophies of government. The chapter aims to distinguish a democracy from an autocracy and provides some distinguishing characteristics of a democracy. It also explains the democratic concept of the individual and explores the common justifications for an autocracy and analyses several characteristics of an autocracy. The same is true of the term autocracy, a government in which a single person or a small group of people has or claims unlimited power. Government, as the guardian of internal social order, employs police, prisons, and courts in its attempts to protect persons, property, rights, and whatever society designates as worthy of preservation. The belief in justice appears to be universal, and every modern government professes devotion to it. Justice is the maintenance or administration of what is considered fair—by law or by judicial proceedings.
