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State

A state is defined as a community of people that occupies a defined territory, has an organized government, and sovereignty. It has the following key elements: a population, a defined territory, a government, and sovereignty. A state is permanent while a government can change. Sovereignty gives a state final authority over matters within its territory and independence externally. A nation is a cultural group that may or may not have its own state but shares a common language, religion, and history.

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95 views15 pages

State

A state is defined as a community of people that occupies a defined territory, has an organized government, and sovereignty. It has the following key elements: a population, a defined territory, a government, and sovereignty. A state is permanent while a government can change. Sovereignty gives a state final authority over matters within its territory and independence externally. A nation is a cultural group that may or may not have its own state but shares a common language, religion, and history.

Uploaded by

Tashi Jamtsho
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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State

“State… is a community of persons more or less


numerous, permanently occupying a definite
portion of territory independent or nearly so of
external control, and possessing an organized
government to which the great body of
inhabitants render habitual obedience.”

- James Wilford Garner


• “A state is a human community that claims the
monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force
within a given territory.” – Max Weber

• The State is a territorial society divided into


government and subjects claiming within its
allotted physical area, a supremacy over all other
institutions. – Harold Laski

• “State is the people organized for law within a


definite territory.” – Prof. Woodrow Wilson
• State is a people permanently occupying a fixed
territory, bound together by common laws,
habits and customs into one body politic exerting
through the medium of an organized
government, independent sovereignty and
control over people and things within its
boundaries, capable of making war and peace
and of entering into all international relations
with the countries of the world.
Elements of the State
1. Population
• Essential element of the state. There can be no
state without population.

• No fixed size of population for constituting a state.

• Population must be sufficient to provide a


governing body and a number of persons to be
governed.
• Aristotle was talking of optimum population small
enough to be well governed and big enough to be
self sufficient.

• An increase or decrease of population within limits


does not affect the status of a state, but it may
change the strength of a state.

• Population of a state need not belong to a single


race, religion, language or culture.
2. Territory
• There cannot be a state without territory.

• Territory includes the land (surface and the


interior), water (rivers, lakes, territorial waters=3
miles of sea from the coast line) and the air space
above the land within a well-defined boundary.

• Fixed, well defined territory is necessary for legal


purpose.
• Territory symbolizes the sphere of sovereignty of the
state.

• Provides for natural resources for the sustenance of


the population.

• Sentimental attachment – love for the motherland,


feeling of patriotism, sense of belongingness-
national unity and mutual cooperation.

• Size of the territory cannot be fixed, but often large


territory offer substantial advantages.
3. Government
• Essential to the existence of the state.

• Government is the agent that acts in the name of


the state to promote and safeguard the interests of
its population and maintain its territorial
boundaries.

• “Government is the agency or machinery through


which common policies are determined and by
which common affairs are regulated and common
interests promoted.” – J. W. Garner
• Authority of the state is exercised by the
government.

• Functions of the state are performed by the


government – maintaining law and order,
promoting the general welfare of the people.

• Without government people will just be a chaotic


mass without common aims, common interests or
a common organization.

• Government and state are, however, not identical.


Difference between State and Government

• State is the whole, and government is only its part or


one of its elements.

• State stands for the entire population within the


territorial limits, whereas government means only a
group of persons authorized to wield legitimate
coercive power on behalf of the state.

• Sovereignty or supreme power is vested in the state.


Government only derives it from the state and
exercises it on behalf of the state.
• State is usually permanent while its government
may be changed, altered, modified or totally
obliterated.

• State represents an abstract concept, while


government is its concrete form.

• International law recognizes states rather than


governments as international persons having
rights and obligations. Eg. UN membership is
given to a state and not to any particular
government.
4. Sovereignty

• Necessary for the existence of the state.

• Sovereignty implies that the government of the


state has absolute and final legal authority over all
matters and is not subject to any power outside of
it.

• It has two aspect (i) internal and (ii) external.


(i) Internal Sovereignty
• the state has ultimate, unlimited power within its
territory. It enjoy final control over all people,
associations and other things.
• Supremacy of state over all individuals and
associations.

(ii) External sovereignty


• Independence of the state from the control or
interference of any other state in the conduct of
its international relations.
• Free from external control.
Nation
• A nation is a cultural entity, a body of people
bound together by a shared cultural heritage.
- It is, therefore, not a political association, nor is it
necessarily linked to a particular area.

• Nation may lack statehood – subjects of foreign


power, no sovereignty…

• Nation may also be landless – Jews before 1948,


Tibetans now
• Cultural factors that define a nation are usually a
common language, religion, traditions, historical
consciousness…
• National consciousness – sense of belonging or
loyalty to a particular community.
• Assertion of nationhood also carries with it
significant political demands.

• Nation-state: When a group of people who share


a common cultural identity gain the right to self-
government.

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