2. INTRODUCTION
Political Science deals with State and Government.
State is a political institution. It is the greatest of all human associations. Every
individual is a member of the State.
To Greeks the term 'State' was not known. They used the word 'polis' which is
translated as 'City State) The term 'State' became current only in the sixteenth
century when the Italian political thinker, Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) used it for
the first time in his book, The Prince’.
The term 'State' is derived from the word 'Status', which was first used by the
Tuetons.
3. DEFINITION OF STATE
Aristotle State is "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.
H.J. Laski-State is "a territorial society divided into government and subjects claiming
within its allotted physical area, a supremacy over other associations.
MacIver-State is "an association which, acting through law as promulgated by a
government endowed to this end with coercive power, maintains within a community
territorially demarcated, the universal external conditions of social order."
4. In simple language, the State can be defined as "an assemblage of human beings
occupying a definite territory of defined boundaries under an organised government,
subject to no outside authority and established by the consent of the governed and
recognised internationally."
5. Essential Characteristics or Elements or
Features of the State
The State possesses four essential elements, namely,
population,
territory,
government and
sovereignty.
6. Essential Characteristics or Elements or
Features of the State
The State possesses four essential elements, namely,
population,
territory,
government and
sovereignty.
7. POPULATION
Since the State is primarily a human institution, it must have population. We cannot
conceive of a State without human beings. There must be a number of families before
a State can come into existence. One or two families or two or three hundred people
cannot make a State.
In ancient days, there were city-States and tribal States whose population was small.
The Greek philosophers believed that the population should neither be too small nor
too big.
Plato in his book 'Laws' fixed the number of citizens for an ideal State as 5040.
Rousseau thought that 10,000 people would be an ideal number. There is no hard and
fast rule regarding the size of population. Many modern States have big population.
For example, China has more than one hundred twenty five crores of people and
India has 105 crores of population. Some States like Andora has a population of 5000,
Monaco has a population of 25,000 and San Marino has a population of 20 thousand.
Irrespective of the size of their population they are called States. Thus, the size of
population varies from State to State.
8. Though a certain number of people satisfy the essential requirement of the State, ie.,
population, it is their quality upon which the strength of the State depends. If the
people are half-starved, illiterate and ignorant, they cannot be regarded as an asset to
the State.
Aristotle feels that "a good citizen makes a good State and a bad citizen a bad State."
Honest, hard working and intelligent people are a boon to the State. States like Japan,
Israel, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Germany have tremendously developed in all fields
though they have small population.
9. People are of different types.
They are citizens, aliens and minors. They may be divided into rich and poor, educated
and uneducated, rulers and ruled, male and female, etc.
Population was a definite asset for a State in earlier days when physical power was
the main source of the production process as well as for the defence of the country.
Now, it is accepted that the population should be in proportion to the resources
available in the territory. If the population out turns the size of the territory and the
supply of economic resources, the State is in an unhappy situation of over-population
with all its evil effects. On the contrary, if the State has a small population, it may not
be in a position to exploit the available economic resources. Therefore, an equilibrium
is to be maintained between the territory, resources and the population of a State.
10. TERRITORY
Territory is another important physical feature of State. People must live permanently
on a definite portion of land permanently to make a State.
Some writers like Sir John Seeley and W.E. Hall do not regard territory as an essential
element. But all the modern thinkers consider territory an essential element of the
State.
Bluntschli says that "the State has its personal basis in the land. The people do not
become a State until they have acquired territory." Gypsies and nomadic tribes do not
become a State because they never settle on a definite territory.
11. The territory includes lakes and rivers.
It also includes sub soil, airspace and mines.
It includes not only land but also the sea up to prescribed limits, ie, twelve miles,
certain gulfs, bays and streams.
The area may be big or small. It is not necessary that a State should have a compact
territory. A State may have an unconnected territories.
As Laski says, "the territories of a State are the regions over which it can exercise
sovereignty."
12. Nowadays whether a State is small or big in territory, it becomes powerful provided it
has scientific and technological advancement. For example, countries like Britain,
France, Japan, etc. have become very powerful though they are very small. India and
China are not powerful in spite of their vast areas, big population and long history.
Though it is essential that a State should have territory there is no limit about its size.
13. Political thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Montesquieu and Rousseau had expressed their
preference in favour of small States. Now the idea of small States has become
outdated and in the changed conditions the trend is towards large States. The large
size of a State enables it to have adequate resources to maintain a good standard of
living and to promote the welfare of the people in general
14. GOVERNMENT
Government.-Government is another important element of the State. The State
cannot exist in the absence of government. Government is the political organisation
of the State set up to direct, regulate and control men's activities to enable them to
live together harmoniously and constructively and to solve their common problems
more energetically and effectively.
Government is an agency created to enforce such rules of conduct and to ensure
obedience. It is the agency, an instrument or mechanism, through which the will of
the State is formulated, expressed and realised. We cannot conceive of a State
without government, for the State wills and acts through the government.
Garner says, "without government the population would be an incoherent,
unorganised, anarchic mass with no means of collective union."
15. The Government is the sum total of legislature, executive, judiciary and internal
bodies which are engaged to perform some functions of the State to make the life of
the people comfortable. The legislature makes the laws, the executive enforces the
laws and the judiciary interprets the laws. The three departments of government
cannot be separated into three watertight compartments. The Government as an
agency of the State maintains law and order without which no progress is possible.
16. There is no definite rule as to which should be the form of Government. The form of
government can be dictatorship or democracy, Parliamentary or Presidential but what
matters is that there should be an organised agency called government to provide
peace and prosperity to the people.
Government is constituted by a small number of people of the population of the
State. The Government is constituted by and is answerable to the people. The
Government is the representative of the will and power of the State. In actual
practice, it is the Government which is really important and it is with it that the
people come into direct contact and have their dealings.
17. SOVEREIGNTY
Sovereignty is the most important element of the State. Sovereignty is supremacy or
supreme power of the State. It is a characteristic possessed by the State alone. It
makes a State independent and supreme. Sovereignty, that is internal supremacy and
external independence, is the distinctive characteristic that distinguishes the State
from all other forms of human association. (Those who do not obey the laws framed
by the Government are punished. This is internal sovereignty (External sovereignty
means that the State is free to make its foreign policy without any external pressure.
Externally the country should be completely free from foreign control and dictation
Prof. Burges says, "All comprehensiveness, exclusiveness and permanence are the
peculiar characteristics of the State with sovereignty as the most essential principle.
All comprehensiveness means that the State embraces all persons and associations of
persons within the given territory Exclusiveness means that there can be one and
only one organisation of the State.
18. Other elements.
Some writers have mentioned some other features to State in addition to the above
four essential elements, namely, population, territory, government and sovereignty.
They are
•Permanence
•International recognition
•Citizenship
