This book is intended to provide an introduction to the basic structures and functions of government. It also contains a brief overview of the development of such structures in Sri Lanka. The text includes a short analysis, intended to evoke further discussion of how these structures, established over the years, have fulfilled (or not, as the case might be) the functions of government.

The first part of the book gives a brief account of the manner in which the functions of government developed in history. In describing such developments, the different forms of a state and the various powers of government are described. The doctrine of the Separation of Powers and its advantages with regard to government are also explored.

The different forms in which the executive and the legislature might be constituted and the suitability of these forms for their different functions are also considered. The book also looks at some voting systems in current use.

The chapter on law and its institutions includes an account of the various types of law as well as the manner in which these are upheld through a system of justice. The relationship of the judiciary and government institutions engaged in maintaining justice, with other structures within a government, is also analysed.

Crucial to questions of the structures and functions of government are the different layers of government. The doctrine of subsidiarity is introduced, with analysis of different structures that might be appropriate for different layers.