2004GIR Government Business Relations

Workshop 1: Introduction

1. WHY SHOULD BUSINESS STUDENTS UNDERSTAND GOVERNMENT?

The government and the business are always two primary institutions that mainly shape the
contemporary society and the business students should have the knowledge to understand the
government to enable them to understand the business conditions that the government allows in
the country. This greatly helps the business students to bring up the development of a wide range
of ideological and philosophical ideas that help in boosting the business in the country. The
government and the market are appended to each other and therefore the business students have
to understand what it entails.

2. WHAT ARE SOME KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MARKET AND THE STATE?
ONE IS PUBLIC AND ONE IS PRIVATE
- The state is under the primacy of the political perspective while market is under the primacy of
the economics.
- The type of goods dealt with in the state is public goods while under the market, we deal with
private goods.
- The state is oriented towards power balance while market is oriented towards producing,
services and trade.
- The state's power base is on the voters who pay taxes while market's power base is on the
owners who get profits.

3. HOW SHOULD POLITICS BE DEFINED?

Politics is the academic study of the government and the state and involves activities that are
associated with the governance of a country or the area more specifically the debate or even the
conflict among the individuals or the parties that are having or hoping to achieve the power.

4. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMOCRATIC AND AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES?

Democracy - Free elections and Press
- Government – Where the citizens choose a smaller group to represent them, make laws
and govern on their behalf.
- Representative and Constitutional Monarchy.
- Citizens can vote.
- The legal requirements for voting are kept to a minimum.
- Citizens can vote by secret ballot.
- Competitive elections
- Competing political parties
- Majority rules
- The government is limited in power by the constitution and law.
- Citizens’ rights and freedom are protected
- The government relies on the rule of law.
Authoritarian regime - No free elections and free press. The ruler is right.
- Government where power is held by an individual or group not accountable to the people.
- Absolute Monarchy, Dictatorship and Totalitarianism.
- Rulers have unlimited power.
- The government may impose an official ideology
- The government can control all aspects of life.
- The government relies on state control of the media.
- The government uses the military and police to enforce what it wants.
- Power lies with a single party.

5. HOW DO IDEAS AND VALUES SHAPE OUR ATTITUDES TO GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS?
Political values and ideas (ideology) shape what we believe about the role of government and business.