Theoretical overview
Political science deals with state and government. Each human being is born in a society and he lives his life as a citizen of a State. He is governed by the government of the state. He inherits by birth the citizenship of a State.
State: state can be defined as political institution. It is the greatest of all human association. Every individual is the member of the state. To the Greek the state term waws not known. They use the word ‘Polis’ which is translated as city-state.
The word ‘state’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘status’ which means a particular social position. Since in ancient time no difference was made b/w the state and society , the term state came to be used for describing the status of person as citizen. Gradually however the term state came to be used for the political institution which exercised supreme power over the people living in its territory.
In simple words we can define state as large community of persons occupying a definite territory and exercising sovereign power through its government.
Definition by scholars
- State is “an association of families and village having for its end a happy and prosperous living a self sufficient existence.” – Aristotle
- “State is people organized for law within definite territory.” – Woodrow Wilson
- “the state exist when a people settle in a country under its own sovereignty.” –Oppenheim
Elements of state
State has four essential elements :
- Population
- Territory
- Government
- Sovereignty
Any community of people which possesses all these element is called state. population and territory are physical element. Government and sovereignty is political element.
- Population: state is primarily a human institution it must have population we can not imagine a state without human beings. There must be numbers of families before a state can came into existence. One or two families or two or three hundred people can not make a state. Plato in his book ‘laws’ fixed the no. of citizens for an ideal state as 5040. Size of population varies from state to state.
- Territory: territory means land ,territory is another important physical feature of a state. People must live permanently on a definite portion of land to make it a state. Some thinker do not regard territory as an essential element of state but moderner thinker considered territory an essential element of state. The size of the territory of a state can be big or small nevertheless it has to be a definite and well-marked portion of territory. State like Russia, China, U.S.A, INDIA, Canada and some others are large sized state whereas Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka , Maldives and several other are state with small territories. The whole territory of the state is under the sovereignty i.e the supreme power of the state. All the persons , Organizations association institution and places located within its territory are under the sovereign jurisdiction of the state.
- Government: government is another important feature of state. The state can not exist in absence of government. Government is the political organization of the state to setup, to direct ,to regulate and control men’s activity and to solve their common problems more energetically and effectively. Government is the sum total of legislature, executive, judiciary and internal bodies which perform some functions of the state to make better life of the people. The legislative make laws , the executive enforce laws and judiciary interpret the laws.
In ancient time king perform all these functions of government and all the powers of gov stood in his hand.
- Sovereignty: it is supreme power of the state it has two dimensions: Internal sovereignty and External sovereignty
- Internal sovereignty : it is the destructive characteristics that distinguishes the state from all other form of human associations those who don’t obey the rules made by government will be punished.
Internal sovereignty means the power of the state to order and regulate the activity of the people , groups and institutions which are at work within its territory.
- External sovereignty: it 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.
Points to remember
- state can be defined as political institution. It is the greatest of all human association. Every individual is the member of the state.
- “State is people organized for law within definite territory.” – Woodrow Wilson
- State has four essential elements which is population, territory ,government, sovereignty
- state is primarily a human institution it must have population we cannot imagine a state without human beings.
- territory means land ,territory is another important physical feature of a state. People must live permanently on a definite portion of land to make it a state.
- Government is the political organization of the state to setup, to direct ,to regulate and control men’s activity and to solve their common problems more energetically and effectively.
- . Government is the sum total of legislature, executive, judiciary and internal bodies which perform some functions of the state to make better life of the people.
- Sovereignty is supreme power of the state it has two dimensions: Internal sovereignty and External sovereignty.
