GRE ISSUE写作论证论据素材 国家制度建设类

　　1 政府和政治

　　A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. Recognition of the state’s claim to independence by other states, enabling it to enter into international agreements, is often important to the establishment of its statehood. The “state” can also be defined in terms of domestic conditions, specifically, as conceptualized by Max Weber, “a state is a human community that (successfully claims the monopoly of the ‘legitimate’ use of physical force within a given territory.”

　　Government can be defined as the political means of creating and enforcing laws, typically via a bureaucratic hierarchy.

　　Politics is the process by which decisions are made within groups. Although the term is generally applied to behavior within governments, politics is also observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. Many different political systems exist, as do many different ways of understanding them, and many definitions overlap. The most common form of government worldwide is a republic; however, other examples include monarchy, social democracy, military dictatorship and theocracy.

　　All of these issues have a direct relationship with economics.

　　2 政府的作用

　　Government is in a unique position to bring enough resources to bear on a social problem when needed, and to “insure” across the entire society against disasters and personal need. Disaster relief is appropriately the concern of government, rushing resources into areas hit by tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes. There is still an immediate and limited role for private philanthropy through organizations such as the American Red Cross, but the fundamental role of relief and reconstruction is best handled by governments. Government, put bluntly, is in a position to coerce all of us to take advantage of this “insurance”, contributing our fair share to insure ourselves and to provide for the needs of the poor and those affected by disasters. Economists and game theorists have proven time and again that we would all under-invest in public goods such as these if we were not forced to do so by taxation. One can fault government for poor planning and for “wasting money”, but private philanthropy can never substitute for the mechanism of society-wide social programs funded and administered by government.

　　3 政府规则及政府作用

　　The rules that governments make encompass a wide range of human affairs, including commerce, education, marriage, medical care, employment, military service, religion, travel, scientific research, and the exchange of ideas. A national government—or, in some cases, a state or local government—is usually given responsibility for services that individuals or private organizations are believed not to be able to perform well themselves. The U.S. Constitution, for example, requires the federal government to perform only a few such functions: the delivery of mail, the taking of the census, the minting of money, and military defense. However, the increasing size and complexity of U.S. society has led to a vast expansion of government activities.

　　Today, the federal government is directly involved in such areas as education, welfare, civil rights, scientific research, weather prediction, transportation, preservation of national resources such as national parks, and much more. Decisions about the responsibilities that national, state, and local governments should have are negotiated among government officials, who are influenced by their constituencies and by centers of power such as corporations, the military, agricultural interests, and labor unions.