Concept of State and

Government
Social Science 14 Philippine Politics, Governance and Constitution
State
• A community of persons more or less
numerous, permanently occupying a
definite portion of territory, having a
government of their own to which
the great body of inhabitants render
obedience, and enjoying freedom
from external control.
Elements of State
• People. – This refers to the inhabitants
living within the state. Without people
there can be no functionaries to
govern and no subjects to be
governed. There is no requirement as
to the number of people that should
compose a state. Ideally, it should be
neither too small nor too large: small
enough to be well-governed and large
enough to be self-sufficing.
Elements of State
• Territory. – It includes not only the fixed
portion of land over which the
jurisdiction of the state extends
(territorial domain), but also the rivers
and lakes therein, a certain area of the
sea which abuts upon its coasts (fluvial
and maritime domain), and the air space
above the land and the waters. (Aerial
domain). Thus the domain of the state
may be described as terrestrial, fluvial,
maritime, and aerial.
Elements of State
• Government. – It refers to the agency
through which the will of the state is
formulated, expressed and carried out.
The word is sometimes used to refer to
the person or aggregate of those persons
in whose hands are placed for the time
being the function of political control.
This “body of men” is usually spoken of
as “administration”. The ordinary citizens
of a country are a part of the state., but
are not part of the government;
Elements of State • Sovereignty. – The term may be defined as the
supreme power of the state to command and
enforce obedience to its will from people within
its jurisdiction and corollarily, to have freedom
from foreign control. It has, therefore, two
manifestations:
(a)Internal or the power of the state to rule within
its territory; and
(b)External or the freedom of the state to carry
out its activities without subjection to or control
by other states. External sovereignty is often
referred to as independence.
Origin of State
• Divine right theory. – It holds
that the state is of divine
creation and the ruler is
ordained by God to govern the
people. Reference has been
made by advocates of this
theory to the laws which
Moses received at Mount Sinai;
Origin of State
• Necessity or force theory.
– It maintains that states
must have been created
through force, by some
great warriors who
imposed their will upon
the weak;
Origin of State
• Paternalistic theory. – It attributes
the origin of states to the
enlargement of the family which
remained under the authority of
the father or mother. By natural
stages, the family grew into a clan,
then developed into a tribe which
broadened into a nation, and the
nation became a state; and
Origin of State
• Social contract theory. – It
asserts that the early states must
have been formed by deliberate
and voluntary compact among
the people to form a society and
organize government for their
common good. This theory
justifies the right of the people
to revolt against a bad ruler.
States distinguished from nation

• The state is a political concept, while nation is an ethnic

concept. A nation is a group of people bound together by
certain characteristics such as common social origin, language,
customs, and traditions, and who believe that they are one and
distinct from others. The term is more strictly synonymous with
“people”;
States distinguished from nation

• A state is not subject to external control while

nation may or may not be independent of
external control; and
States distinguished from nation

• A single state may consist of one or more nations or peoples and

conversely, a single nation may be made up of several states. The
United States is a melting pot of several nationalities. On the other
hand, the Arab nation is divided politically into several sovereign
states. Among them are: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon,
and others. The Philippines is a state composed of one nation.
State distinguished from government

In common speech, they are usually regarded as

identical. As ordinarily, the acts of the government
(within the limits of the delegation of powers) are the
acts of the state, the former is meant when the latter is
mentioned, and vice versa.
State distinguished from government

The government is only the agency through which the states

articulate its will. The former is the agent, the latter is the principal. A
state cannot exist without a government, but it is possible to have a
government without a state. Thus, we had various governments at
different periods of our history, from pre-Spanish times to the present.
There was no Philippine state during those periods when we were
under foreign domination.
State distinguished from government

A government may change, its form may change, but the

state, as long as its elements are present, remains the same.
Purpose and necessity of government.

(1) Advancement of the public welfare. – Government exists and should

continue to exist for the benefit of the people governed. It is necessary for
(a) the protection of society and its members, the security of persons and
property, the administration of justice, the preservation of the state from
external danger, dealings of the state with foreign powers (constituent
functions) and (b) the advancement of the physical, economic, social, and
cultural well0being of the people. (ministrant functions)
Purpose and necessity of government.

(2) Consequence of absence. – Government exists to do these things

which by their very nature, it is better equipped to administer for the public
welfare than any private individual or group of individuals. It is obvious that
without an organized structure of government, anarchy and disorder, and a
general feeling of fear and insecurity will prevail in society, progress and
development will not be possible, and values taken for granted in a free
modern society such as truth, freedom, justice, equality, rule of law, and
human dignity can never be enjoyed.
Forms of government
(1) As to number of persons exercising sovereign powers:
(a) Monarchy or one in which the supreme and final authority is in the
hands of a single person without regard to the source of his election of the
nature or duration of his tenure. Monarchies are further classified into:
1) Absolute monarchy or one in which the ruler rules by divine right; and
2) Limited monarchy or one in which the ruler rules in accordance with a
constitution;
Forms of government
(b) Aristocracy or one in which political power is exercised by a few privileged class
which is known as an aristocracy or oligarchy; and
(c) Democracy or one in which political power is exercised by a majority of the people.
Democratic governments are further classified into:
1) Direct or pure democracy or one in which the will of the state is formulated or expressed
directly and immediately through the people in a mass meeting or primary assembly rather
through the medium of delegates or representatives chosen to act for them; and
2) Indirect, representative, or republican democracy or one in which the will of the state is
formulated and expressed through the agency of a relatively small and select body of persons
chosen by the people to act as their representatives.
Forms of government
(2) As to extent of powers exercised by the central or national
government:
(a) Unitary government or one in which the control of national and
local affairs is exercised by the central or national government; and
(b) Federal government or one in which the powers of government
are divided between two sets of organs, one for national affairs and
the other local affairs, each organ being supreme within its own
sphere. The United States is a federal government.
Forms of government
(3) As to relationship between the executive and the legislative branches of the
government:
(a) Parliamentary government or one in which the state confers upon the legislature the
power to terminate the tenure of office of the real executive. Under this system, the Cabinet or
ministry is immediately and legally responsible to the legislature and immediately or politically
responsible to the electorate, while the titular or nominal executive – the Chief of State –
occupies a position of irresponsibility; and
(b) Presidential government or in one in which the state makes the executive constitutionally
independent of the legislature as regards his tenure and to a large extent as regards his policies
and acts, and furnishes him with sufficient powers to prevent the legislature from trenching
upon the sphere marked out by the constitution as executive independence and prerogative.
Concept of
Constitution
Social Science 14 Philippine Politics,
Governance and Constitution
Meaning of Constitution

Body of rules and principles in

accordance with which the powers of
sovereignty are regularly exercised.
Constitution of the Philippines
Written instrument by which the fundamental
powers of the government are established, limited
and defined and by which these powers are
distributed among the several departments or
branches for their safe and useful exercise for the
benefit of the people.
Constitutional Law

branch of public law which treats of

constitutions, their nature, formation,
amendment, and interpretation.
Kinds of Constitution
1. As to their origin and history:
a. Conventional or enacted-one which is enacted by a
constituent assembly or granted by a monarch to his subjects
b. Cumulative or evolved-one which is the product of growth or
a long period of development originating in customs,
traditions, judicial decisions, etc., rather than from a
deliberate and formal enactment.
Kinds of Constitution
2. As to their form:
a. Written-one which has been given definite written form at a
particular time, usually by a specially constituted authority called a
“constitutional convention”; and
b. Unwritten-entirely the product of political evolution, consisting
largely of a mass of customs, usages and judicial decisions together
with a smaller body of statutory enactments of a fundamental
character usually bearing different dates.
Kinds of Constitution
3. As to manner of amending them:
a. Rigid or inelastic-one regarded as a document of special sanctity
which cannot be amended or altered except by some special
machinery more cumbrous than ordinary legislative process; and
b. Flexible and elastic-one which possesses no higher legal
authority than ordinary laws and which may be altered in the
same way as other laws.
Kinds of Constitution
The Philippine Constitution may be classified
as conventional or enacted, written, and rigid or
inelastic. It was drafted by an appointive body
called “Constitutional Commission.”
Requisites of a good written constitution
(1) As to form, a good constitution should be:
(a) Brief-because if constitution is too detailed, it would lose the advantage of a
fundamental law which in a few provisions outlines the structure of the
government of the whole state and the rights of the citizens.
(b) Broad-because a statement of the powers and functions of government, and of
the relations between the governing body and the governed, requires that it be
as comprehensive as possible; and
(c) Definite-because otherwise the application of its provisions to concrete situations
may prove unduly difficult if not impossible. Any vagueness which may lead to
opposing interpretations of essential features may cause incalculable harm.
Requisites of a good written constitution
(2) As to contents:
(a) Constitution of government-dealing with framework of government
and its powers, and defining the electorate.
(b) Constitution of liberty-settling forth of fundamental rights of the
people and imposing certain limitations on the powers of the
government as a means of securing the enjoyment of these rights.
(c) Constitution of sovereignty-pointing out the mode or procedure for
amending or revising the constitution.
Constitution distinguished from statute.
(1) A constitution is a legislation direct from the people while a statute is a
legislation from the people’s representatives;
(2) A constitution merely states the general framework of the law and the
government, while a statute provides the details of the subject of which it
treats;
(3) A constitution is intended not merely to meet existing conditions but to
govern the future, while a statute is intended primarily to meet existing
conditions only; and
(4) A constitution is the supreme or fundamental law of the state to which
statutes and all other laws must conform.
 Preamble
We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty
God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a
Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the
common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to
ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy
under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality,
and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.