Government is the institution by which a country’s society organizes and allocates power in order to accomplish collective goals and provide benefits that society as a whole needs. It can be classified according to its source of authority—whether it is a single person (an autocracy), a select group of people (an oligarchy), or the whole population as a whole (a democracy). Governments are typically organised into distinct institutions with different powers, functions, and duties. The distribution of these institutions in a given government is referred to as the “separation of powers”.
In his writings, Foucault was interested in understanding how the modern state uses its governmentality to shape and control society. He posed a series of questions that would later be called the ‘problematics of government’. These questions related to who should be governed and to what end, and how this could be achieved in the best possible way – through laws, rules, and structures that provided people with stability, essential goods and services, and a structure for making their opinions known to public officials.
The most obvious benefit of working in government is job security, which is often unparalleled in the private sector. Additionally, many federal jobs offer a variety of professional opportunities to advance in one’s career and to expand professional networks with a wide range of people and organizations. Similarly, working on government contracts can provide companies with a pathway to future business growth and scalability by building experience in delivering large projects.
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