GOVERNMENT & TRADE
Government
Ordinarily we refer to Government as the authority having power of administering the state or country as the case may be. It is a body that can enforce laws within a civil, corporate, religious, academic, welfare and any other organization. It may also refer to administrate a group of people, an area with fixed boundaries, or a collection of assets.
The word – origin
The word “Government” is the offshoot of the Greek word “Kyvernites” meaning steersman or pilot or rudder. Normally, the word “government’ will refer to executive function though it is practically a misnomer. Although the common people refer to Government as the administrative executive in the State, in real terms it should mean a combination of three wings, namely the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary.
Components of Government
Modern political theorists indicate three components of Government as the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. The role of legislature in Government is formulation of laws and policies providing the broad guidelines to Government to administer the State. Executive in Government is there to implement these laws and policies while framing complementing rules and guidelines deriving their powers within the framework of the law. Judiciary is that component of Government which provides the interpretation of law and its ancillary instruments Vis-à-vis the society which the law would administer.
Types of Government
Though theoretically there are many types of Government, broadly Government can be categorized as: -
• Representative – as in case of parliamentary democracies found in India and United Kingdom and a host of other countries. They may be Parliamentary Democracy as in India or Presidential Democracy as in the United States. These two types are prominent in Europe, North America, and South America and Australian continents.
• Authoritarian – Like the monarchical Government in many Arabian countries, military dictatorship in some of the Asian and many African countries, and community authority based rule as in China and Russia. While monarchy or oligarchy was the prevalent form a century ago, it is now the turn of representative democracy which holds the sway.
Trade
When civilization started making its way in the primitive human society, a trading system of exchange of goods and services automatically cropped along. It was found that everyone cannot obtain everything he or she requires and it was necessary to trade it from some one else. Since there was no concept of free service at that time the barter trade developed fast. This was the trade system of exchange of goods for goods or services. Thus we can say that trade is a voluntary exchange of goods, services or both. Today, money is the means and tool for trade.
Concepts of trade
Whether it is barter trade by exchange of goods for goods or services or whether it is trade regulated by monetary transactions, trade always refers to some sort of buying and selling. Buying and selling on turn requires a market, the most essential element for a successful trade. Trade involving two parties is called bilateral trade and trade can involve multiple parties making it multilateral trade. Similarly trade within the country is called domestic trade while with other countries is named as International Trade. The individual concept of not being self sufficient on one’s own is also prevalent here. The only change is that individual is replaced by an entity or organization that trades. Trades are often made on zonal basis because one zone produces a few things while it requires some other things. The second zone produces what the first zone requires but does not produce what the first zone produces. Here the trade will take place with each zone catering to the needs of others. As at many times one of the zones may require certain items produced by another zone for trade. If the other zone is not interested in trading the same for any offer made by the first zone, then they may opt for money instead of any substitute material.
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