The Role of Government What is/are the common roles and functions of all national governments? What are the responsibilities of all governments? — TopHatProductions115
I assume this is a philosophical question ("What are the legitimate or ethically defensible functions of government?"), not an empirical one ("What functions do the various governments in the world exercise?").
If the former is intended, then there are three:
1. Protect the rights of its citizens (from the depredations of common criminals and foreign invaders);
2. Supply various public goods (a "public good" in economics is a good which is non-rivalrous and non-excludable, and therefore cannot be supplied by private providers); and
3. Manage natural commons (such as the atmosphere, public lands, and major bodies of water).
The only feature of government that distinguishes it from other human associations and institutions is its presumed power to
legitimately use force to achieve its aims. Hence, the
criterion for deciding what government functions are defensible is given by the answer to the question, "For what purposes, and in what circumstances, is the use of force by one moral agent against another morally defensible"?