Government is the group of people that rules a particular territory – such as a country, state within a country, region or city. It is a collection of people that has the power to make laws and regulations, issue money, and enforce those laws with police and military forces. Governments also provide a variety of services to their citizens including schools, public transportation and mail services. They also manage externalities like pollution, provide infrastructure for economic growth and redistribute income to poorer citizens. Governments can be democratic, monarchy, totalitarian or communist, and they can have many other forms such as oligarchy, theocracy or tyranny.

Governments are created when a society needs to accomplish goals that individuals or small groups of people can’t accomplish individually. They also need a tool that can do tasks and projects that don’t have profit potential and thus wouldn’t be undertaken by private enterprise. Governments are often seen as the solution to free-rider problems and as a means of solving social dilemmas such as poverty, environmental degradation or war.

In order for governments to function they must have a way to raise and spend money. The main way that they do this is by imposing taxes on citizens. These taxes are usually based on income, property and sales. Governments also draft budgets that outline how the funds they raise will be spent – for example, on education, defense and health care.

Another key role of government is to protect private property. This is necessary for market functioning and it ensures that people who own houses, businesses and inventions don’t have to compete with others who want to use them. Governments also have the power to stop monopolies from controlling industries and markets.

A third important role of government is to resolve market failures. This can include limiting the power of a monopoly, providing a safety net for the vulnerable, or addressing negative side effects for third parties such as pollution. Governments can do this through legal systems that define what is against the law and describe the punishments for breaking it, or through regulations that impact how producers make goods and services.

The final important role of government is to provide a range of social programs to its citizens. This includes food stamps, unemployment benefits and medical coverage. This is the most controversial role of government, and there are many different opinions about how much assistance the government should provide and who should get it.

The reason for this controversy is that people have become so used to the benefits of government that they take them for granted. This is particularly true of benefits that are provided reliably over long periods of time, such as clean water and stable currency systems. This leads to a sense of cynicism about the ability of governments to solve big challenges such as fighting global warming or helping people out of poverty. This cynicism is reinforced by the media which regularly features stories about government waste, policy blunders and corrupt politicians.