GOVT2306: Texas Government
Lecture 2: What is Government? What is Politics?

Instructor: Tom Hanna, Spring 2026

2026-02-12

Agenda and Announcements

Agenda

  • Today:

      - Study tips
  - Introduction to the topic of government: What is Government? What is Politics? Where does Texas government fit?
  - Activities/Discussion: Experiences with Government
  - Question and Answer

February 17 - Module 0 Due!

  • Texas Background: History, Geography, People, and Culture
  • State vs. Federal: dividing the responsibilities

Reminder! Due Dates Begin Immediately

  • Module 0 is due February 17
  • Module 1 Due March 3
  • Module 0 must be done on time or you risk a drop for non-activity
  • You must complete Module 0 to do any other work in the course, so get started on it right away!
  • All textbook homeworks for semester are already assigned in Textbook, so you have plenty of time and no excuses for late work

introduction to Government

Introduction to Government: Short discussion

Before stepping on the campus today, what was the last time that politics made a direct difference in your life?

  • physical difference, not just a feeling

What is government / politics?

  • Expensive or involves large amounts of money
  • Distant
  • Involves politicians or campaigns
  • involves voting or decision making
  • Involves rights
  • National borders
  • Controversial

What is politics: State and local (mostly)

Houston Public Works

What is politics: Federal, state and local

Metro rail

What is politics: Federal, state and local (cont)

HCC Central Campus

What is politics?

  • Not distant
  • immediate,right here
  • touches everything
  • direct impacts are constant
  • involves all of us
  • It can be expensive, but it’s not always about money

Politics is powerful

  • Immense power to achieve good ends
  • Immense power to do incredible harm

Why is poltiics so potentially harmful?

Why does politics have such power to cause harm?

Introduction to Government

To really understand government and politics we first need to know what those things are.

What is government?

What is government?

  • Government is what it does
  • Government is something else more fundamental

What does government do?

Collective action: organizing individuals to achieve a common goal

Is government the only group that engages in collective action?

Is government the only group that engages in collective action?

Other organizations that engage in collective action

  • Family
  • Churches
  • Charities
  • Businesses!
  • Community organizations

What makes government different?

What makes government different from other organizations?

Enforcement of rules

Severe Penalties

How does government enforce rules?

  • police force
  • prison system
  • military
  • enforcement backed by violent, armed force

Formal definition of government

Government is the organization that has the exclusive right to use organized coercive force in a given territory that is commonly perceived as legitimate.

Breaking down the definition

  • organized
  • coercive
  • violent
  • legitimate

What is politics?

Politics is the process of making collective decisions in the context of government. Making collective decisions about why, how, and when to use coercive force.

Why limit government?

  • Because at its core government is violent force
  • Violent force is easily abused
  • Even good uses of government still rely on violent force
  • Government is necessary, but it is also dangerous

How do we limit government in the US system?

  • The US and Texas Constitutions

  • Define its powers in the Constitutions

  • Set limits to its powers in the Constitutions

  • Guarantee rights to individuals in the Constitutions …

  • But can we make those paper guarantees stand up to the reality of violent force?

The first limit on power

By dividing the power among competing groups with different agendas

Federal level

Separation of Powers

The second limit on power

Giving each of those groups powers to limit each of the others

Checks and Balances

Checks and Balances

State level

We do the same thing at the state level, but with different names

  • President - Executive (more than the Governor)
  • Congress - Legislature
  • Courts - Courts

One more limit

What is perhaps the biggest separation of powers in the US system?

  • Federal vs 50 states
  • Under the US Constitution, the federal government is limited to only those powers that are explicitly granted to it.
  • All other powers are reserved to the states or the people.

Supremacy

  • The US Constitution is the supreme law of the land
  • The federal government is supreme in areas given to it by the US Constitution
  • Under the state constitutions, the states are supreme in anything not prohibited by US Constitution (10th Amendment)
  • Note: this does not say, “prohibited by Congress” or “prohibited by the President” or even “prohibited by the Supreme Court

State vs Federal Powers

State vs Federal Powers

The Final Check

What is the final peaceful check on federal tyranny?

  • One of the least talked about and most important state powers for preventing federal tyranny is the power to…

  • Conduct elections

Authorship and License

Creative Commons License