[School of Distance Education (CHAPTER -I THE STATE The term ‘State’ occupies the highest place and central theme in the study of political science, The modern term “state” is derived from the word “status” earlier used by the German tribe ‘Teutons’, The Greeks used the word 'Polis' to denote the ‘city-state’ and Romans used the term ‘Civitas’ which means state. It was the Italian scholar Machiavelli who used the term ‘state’ in political science in the modem sense. In political science the term ‘state’ we mean an association of people who live within a geographical area under an organised goverment and subject to no outside control State is an institution to ensure law and order and maintain harmony of social relations, It creates those conditions, which are necessary for the development of individual personality. It creates laws and rules to regulate human behaviour. It stand for the welfare of society as whole and protect the rights and life of citizen from internal and external disturbances or war. The ordinary people usually use the word state in a wrong way. It is wrong to equate the word state with government, nation or society. When they say ‘state aid to industries’ ‘state bus? etc., actually they mean ‘government aid to industries’ “government bus’ etc. Further, the constituent units of a federation are called “states” , for example, various states in India and the federal states in the U.S.A. But as far as our study is concerned the term state is used in a different ways. In the scientific sense of the term “the state means an assemblage of human beings occupying a definite territory, organised under a government supreme within the country and subject to no outside control”. Definitions of state The term ‘state’ has been defined differently by various political thinkers. Some of the popular definitions are given below: To quote Mac Iver " some writers define the state as essentially a class structure, others regard it as an one organisation that transcends class and stands for the whole community. Some interpret it as a power system, others as welfare system. Some view entirely as a legal construction either in the old Austinan sense which made it a relationship of the governors and governed or as a ‘community organized for action under legal rules. To some it is a necessary evil and to a very few , an evil that will some day be unnecessary” 1. According to Bodin, the state is " an association of families and their common possessions , governed by supreme power and by reason”. 2. Dr. Gamer- “A state is a community of persons more or less numerous, permanently occupying a definite portion of territory independent or nearly so of extemal control of possessing an organised government to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience” 3. Woodrow Wilson- “The state is a people organised for law within a definite territory”. 4, HJ. Laski- “State is a territorial society divided into government and subject claiming with its allotted physical area, a supremacy over all other institutions”. 5, Bluntschli- “The state is politically organised people of a definite territory”. Political Science (Part-!) Page 17[School of Distance Education 6. Holland defines the state as" a numerous assemblage of human beings generally occupying a certain territory amongst whom the will of the majority or class made to prevail against any of their number who oppose it 7. Aristotle defined the state as " a union of families and villages having for its end a perfect and self - sufficing life by which we mean a happy and honourable life". 8. According to Marxist opinion ; " the state arose as a result of division of society into antagonistic classes for the purpose of curbing the exploited majority. The state is the political organisation of ruling classes which uses it for the purpose of suppressing the resistance of its class enemies, It is an organisation for the maintenance of the rule of one class over the other classes. To achieve this the state possesses such instrument of power as an army , the courts, a police force, etc." 9. The modern conception of the state, Views of Gabriel Almond and Robert Dhal : Almond used the term " political system" instead of the state. According to him" political system is the system of interactions to be found in all independent societies which perform the functions of integration and adaptation (both internally and vis-a-vis other societies) by means of employment, or threat of employment , of more or less legitimate physical compulsion". " The Political System" he explains, " is the legitimate, order maintaining or transforming system in the society" Elements of the State The above definitions given by various writers show that there are four elements of a state namely Population, Territory, Government and Sovereignty. Of these four elements, the first two are physical , the third political and the fourth spiritual. The essential four elements are discussed below. 1, POPULATION Since state is a human institution and highest of all human associations there can be no state without human beings. state can exist in an uninhabited land. There is no limit for the number of citizens in a state. According to Plato, an ideal state should consist of 5040 , while Aristotle fixed the population of state at 10.000. However, in the modern times the scholars have not ventured to fix any upper or lower limits of population. Their number should either be too small to be self sufficient nor too large to be well governed. The People’s Republic of China is the largest state in respect of population and San Marino in Italy is the smallest. The modern state gives preference to the big size population because, the bigger the population, the greater will be its man power. They can fight for a longer period of time during the war period. This is the reason why Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and communist Russia encouraged mothers to have more issues. Such mothers were called “Heroine mothers”. While the problem of these countries is one of decline of population, the problem of state like India is one of phenomenal increase in her population. The acceptable rule, as Dr. Garner says that, population must be sufficient to provide a governing body and number of persons to be governed and of course sufficient to support a state organisation, 2.TERRITORY A modem state cannot exist without territory. Nomadic tribes and gypsies wandering from one place to another could not form a state, But no limit can be laid down on territory as in population. Political Science (Part-!) Page 18[School of Distance Education The largest state in size is the former U.S.S.R ,whose area covered about one by sixth of the world, whereas Vatican in Rome has an area of about 4square miles. The advantage of small state is that they remain compact and well governed. But at the same time, they are at great disadvantage as in the matters of difference and natural resources. But size is no index of greatness . Any how the modern age is definitely of large territorial state because a large state can mobilise all its resources for the economic and social welfare and defence. 3. GOVERNMENT Government is an essential element of the state. It is the agency through which the will of the state is formulated, expressed and realised. It is the duty of the government to protect the sovereignty and integrity of the state, maintain law and order, protect citizens from external aggression, solve the dispute among citizen and work for the all round development of the people. Hence Government is indispensable because there can be no civilised existence without it Government may vary from state to state. Democracy is popular in India, England, America, France, Italy etc, communist government is popular in Nepal and Military government in Pakistan, Turkey etc. 4, SOVEREIGNTY Sovereignty means supremacy of the state. It is the most important element of the state. It is sovereignty that differentiates the state from all other social organisation. Since state is supreme in internal and external matters. Sovereignty is of two types-internal sovereignty and external sovereignty. Internal sovereignty means that the state has no control over the institutions and the people of the state. External sovereignty means that the state is free from the control of other states, Origin of State State is the central subject of study of political science, So political scientists have shown keen terest in understanding the origin and development of state. Many theories have come up on the origin of the state, But there is no precise answer to the question how and when the state came into being. The theories advanced so far by the political thinkers on the origin of the state are; + The theories of divine origin, + The theory of force + The theory of social contract + The patriarchal theory + The matriarchal theory and + The Evolutionary theory or Historical theory Of these except the Evolutionary theory the other theories are not a theories on the origin of the state. cepted as correct, ‘The Evolutionary theory or Historical theory This is the most scientific theory on the origin of the state. The theory assumes that a state is a historical growth. The state is neither the result of an artificial creation nor it originated at a period of time. To quote Leacock “the state is a growth , an evolution , the result of a gradual Political Science (Part-!) Page 19