POLITICAL SCIENCE - STATE.pptx

state - political science

1. POLITICAL SCIENCE - STATE

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

19. 1.THEORIES OF ORIGIN OF STATE 2.FUNCTIONS OF STATE

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