The nature of that control-what we will define as power and authority-is an important feature of society. However, one reality seems clear: Something all governments have in common is that they exert control over the people they govern. The answer to those questions might be a matter of opinion, perspective, and circumstance. What about what they have in common? Do all of them serve the people? Protect the people? Increase prosperity? Just considering those thousands of different entities, it's easy to see what differentiates governments. In some countries such as the United States and Canada, Native Americans and First Nations have their own systems of government in some relationship with the federal government.
Many of those countries have states or provinces with their own governments. Rather than the fortress-like, Greek- and Roman-inspired structures of many government buildings, architect Louis Kahn set the rounded, asymmetrical, modern complex within an artificial lake, with many open spaces exposed to the elements (Credit: Lykantrop/Wikimedia Commons) The Capitol Complex in Bangladesh, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, was designed to capture the essence of an entirely new country. Figure 17.2 Government buildings are built to symbolize authority, but they also represent a specific perspective or message.
