Chapter 4 Chapter Overview & Learning Objectives

The Role of Government

Chapter Overview

  • Learning Objectives
  • Introduction
  • What Do Governments Do?
    • What Can Cause a Government to Fail?
  • Some Shared Objectives of Government
  • Some Activities of Government
  • Schools of Thought Regarding the Role of Government
  • Objectives of Political Systems
  • Constitutions: The “Basic Law”
  • Liberal Democracy
  • Authoritarianism
  • Totalitarianism
  • Government and Canada
  • Conclusion
  • Self-Assessment Questions
  • Weblinks
  • Further Reading
  • Film and Video Clips

Learning Objectives

This chapter will help you to

  • contrast various points of view regarding the role of government;
  • identify the main objectives of a government system;
  • compare the primary forms of government systems and their features;
  • recognize how governments may change their role in society; and
  • understand the government system used in Canada.
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