Week8.2--reading blog--LI LINLIN

 (1) Summary:

The article discusses the definition, history, and function of government. Government is described as a system or organization that governs a particular community or nation and usually includes legislative, executive, and judicial organs. It also emphasizes that government is a mechanism for formulating and implementing policies, as well as an expression of cultural and political philosophy. It also covers different types of government, including democracy, totalitarianism, and monarchy, and discusses how these types have been realized in both historical and modern societies. In addition, the reasons for the formation of government, such as the social demands brought about by the development of agriculture and the need to manage water infrastructure, are mentioned, which have led to the formation of more complex government structures.

The article also explains the origin of the word "government" from an etymological perspective and its changing meaning in different languages, showing how government as a global concept has been understood and applied in different cultures and languages. Overall, the article provides a comprehensive overview of government, including its definition, role, type, and historical development, emphasizing the central position of government in social structure and culture.

The forms and evolution of modern government, and the diversity and classification of government. From the end of the 17th century, with the English Civil War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution and other events, representative government gradually became the mainstream. The Soviet Union became the first major country to adopt a communist government, and liberal democracy became the more common form of government after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The 19th and 20th centuries saw significant growth in the size of government, especially in the regulation of business and the development of the welfare state. In addition, the article deals with the problem of classification of types of government, which is particularly important in the study of political science and international relations, but the boundaries of classification are often fluid or unclear. The problem of self-identification of government forms points out that self-identification is not always objective and may be complicated by the deviation between government and economy in practice. For example, although the former Soviet Union called itself a socialist republic, it was in fact a centralized one-party state under Stalin.

The article also explores the issue of definitions of political ideology and related forms of governance, pointing out that these definitions are often inconsistent and even deliberately distorted or biased across the globe. For example, the meaning of "conservatism" may be very different in the United States than elsewhere.

Although Plato proposes five basic types of government in the Republic, the actual forms of government are far more complex and varied than that. Overall, the article emphasizes the complexity of understanding government and the differences between forms and practices of government.

(2) Interesting points:

Interesting point: The question of self-identification with forms of government is raised, especially in describing the example of the former Soviet Union, which, even though it called itself a socialist republic, in practice was closer to a centralized one-party state under Stalin. This discrepancy highlights the potentially significant inconsistencies between the government's self-assertion and its actual political practice.

(3) Questions:

What are the implications of this inconsistency between self-identification and actual political practice in international politics?