Class 11. pol sc. State and its Elements PDF

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CHAPTER 2

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 ONCEPTS: FUNDAMENTAL  C STATE, GOVERNMENT, NATION AND NATIONALITY State a  nd G  overnment are the m  ain o  bjects of s tudy i n Political S  cience. All political s tudies revolve around S  tate a  nd G  overnment. I n f act, in its  t  raditional way, Politics c  ontinues to b e

identified a  s Political Science a  nd defined a  s "the science of state and government." One scholar h  as observed t hat State is a  s old as H  istory and P  olitics is a  s old as the

State. All

s tudents of P  olitical Science have t o h  ave a  clear understanding of t he meaning of

State, Government a  nd Society a  s well a  s the difference  between t hese three. Each human b  eing i s born in a  society a  nd h  e lives his life as a c itizen of a  State. He is governed b  y the government of t he state. He i nherits, b  y birth, t he citizenship of a S  tate. He lives under the r ule of t he g  overnment and carries out i ts l aws, p  olicies, orders, rules  , decisions, regulations a  nd d  ecrees. H  ence, it i s essential f or e  ach one o  fu  s to study s tate and u  nderstand the difference b  etween State, G  overnment Society a  nd A  ssociation. WHAT IS STATE?

State i s the s overeign political institution o  f the p  eople living as an organised society. Each o  ne of u  s lives u  nder the s upreme power o  f the S  tate, e  njoys rights a  nd freedoms and performs s everal d  uties as a citizen of t he S  tate. In a  ncient G  reek the word ' P  olis' w  as used f or i dentifying the s mall city-states  . I t w  as because of t his f act that Aristotle g  ave the  title 'Politics' t o h  is book w  hich d  iscussed the origin, nature a  nd functions of the G  reek city-s tates (Polis). H  owever, l ater on, the t erm 'State' came t o be universally u  sed for d  escribing every big o  r small p  olitical unit exercising supreme power o  ver i ts people. 11 

The word 'S  tate h  as been derived f rom t he Latin word “ Status' w  hich means a  particular social p  osition. Since in ancient t imes, n  o difference was m  ade b  etween State a  nd Society, t he term S  tate c ame to be used for describing t he status of t he p  ersons as citizens. Gradually h  owever, t he term S  tate c ame to be

 rganisation which exercised supreme p used f or the p  olitical institution/o  ower (Sovereignty  ) over t he

people living i n its t erritory.

In s imple words, we c an define S  tate as a large c ommunity o  f persons, occupying a definite t erritory and e  xercising sovereign p  ower through its  government.

Some P  opular Definitions o  f State State is "an association of families and villages having for its end a happy and prosperous living-a self-sufficient existence." --Arislotle

The State is a politically organised people of a definite territory." -Bluntschli

“ State is a territorial society divided into government and subjects, claiming within its allotted physical area, a supremacy over all other institutions." Laski. "The State exists w  here a number of p  eople l iving on a definite t erritory a  re unified under a  government, which i n i nternal matters is t he organ  f or expressing t heir sovereignty and i n external m  atters is independent of other g  overnments." - Gilch r ist

"The 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 organised government to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience." -Garner

 e can c onclude by saying t hat the State is a W  politically organised c ommunity of p  eople, which i s occupying a  d  efinite p  ortion of t erritory and is e  xercising s overeign power t hrough its g  overnment over a  ll the persons and p  laces f alling in its t erritory. I t is n  ot under a  ny external c ontrol and i s described as: Sovereign Independent Politically O  rganised Community  o  f People.

State is a political institution/ organisation as well as a territorial sovereign entity. Its prime responsibility is to provide security, peace, order and governance to its people. The people have to continuously and habitually obey the laws and of the State.

ELEMENTS OF STATE State stands i dentified with its four essential e  lements. T  he presence o  f all the f our, without exception, constitutes a  State. T  hese are: 1. Population

2. Territory 3. Government 4. Sovereignty

 ny community of p eople w A  hich possesses a  ll these e  lements is  called the State.

1. Population :

State is a community of persons. It is a human political institution. Without a p  opulation there can be n  o State. P  opulation can b  e more or l ess b  ut it has t o be there. There are S  tates w  ith very s mall p  opulations like S  witzerland, C  anada and o  thers, and there a  re States l ike China and I ndia and s ome others, w  ith v ery larger populations. The people of a State are the citizens of the State. They enjoy rights and freedom as citizens as well as perform duties towards the State. When citizens of another State are living in the territory of the State, they are called aliens. All the persons, citizens as well as aliens, who are living in the territory of the State are duty bound to obey the laws and policies of the State. The State exercises supreme authority over them through its government.  In contemporary times, the government of the state is organised and constituted by the people and is responsible and accountable to them. Such a government is i dentified as a  democratic government. There is no definite limit for the number of the population essential for a State. However, it i s r ecognised t hat the population should b  e neither d  isproportionately large n  or very s mall. It has t o b  e within a r easonable limit. It s hould be determined on the basis o  f the size of the territory o  f the S  tate, t he available resources, t he standard of living expected and n  eeds of defence, production o  f goods and supplies. India has a  very large and f ast g  rowing population and  there i s every n  eed to check t he population e  xplosion. I t is essential for e  nhancing the ability o  f I ndia to r egister a s ustainable high l evel of d  evelopment.

2. Territory : Territory i s the s econd essential element o  f State. S  tate is a territorial unit or entity. Definite territory i s i ts essential component. A  S  tate cannot e  xist in the a  ir or a  t sea. It is e  ssentially a  territorial State. The s ize of t he t erritory of a  State  can be big o  r small, n  evertheless it has to be a definite and well-marked portion of territory. States l ike Russia, Canada, U.S. A  ., India, C  hina, Brazil and some o  thers are l arge s ized states, whereas Nepal, B  hutan, Sri Lanka, M  aldives, Switzerland, Togo, B  runei and s everal others a  re States  with small territories  . The w  hole t erritory o  f the state is under t he sovereignty i .e  . t he supreme power of t he S  tate. All persons, o  rganisations, associations, institutions and p  laces located w  ithin its territory are u  nder t he sovereign j urisdiction of t he State. The State c an regulate a  ll these in a  ll respects. Further, i t must b  e noted that t he territory o  f the state i ncludes not only t he land b  ut also, r ivers, lakes canals inland s eas i f a  ny, a  portion o  f coastal sea t erritorial waters o  r maritime b  elt, c ontinental shelf, mountains, h  ills and a  ll o  ther land features a  long with air s pace above t he territory. T  he territory o  f the state can also i nclude s ome islands l ocated in the sea. For e  xample A  ndaman - Nicobar a  nd N  ew Moor i slands are parts of India. S  tate exercises s overeignty over all p  arts of i ts t erritory. S  hips of t he State a  re its floating parts a  nd aeroplanes are its f lying p  arts. E  ven a States c an lease o  ut its t erritory to another S  tate e  .g. India has g  iven on lease her Teen Bigha  corridor to B  angladesh.

3. Government : Government is the political organisation or machinery or agency or magistracy of the State through which the laws of the State are made, implemented, enforced and adjudicated. I t i s the third essential e  lement of t he State. T  he state exercises its s overeign power through i ts government. T  his sometimes creates the i mpression t hat there i s no difference b  etween the S  tate and G  overnment. However i t must b  e c learly noted t hat government is j ust one element o  f the State. I t is t he agent o  r t he working agency of the State. Sovereignty b  elongs to the  State, t he government uses it  on behalf o  f the State. Each government h  as three o  rgan  s . :  . p (1) Legislature – which f ormulates the will of S  tate i. e  erforms rule-making functions ;  . p (2) Executive - which e  nforces and i mplements the l aws of the  State i. e  erforms t he rule-a  pplication f unctions; and  . p (3) Judiciary – which applies the l aws to specific c ases and settles t he disputes i. e  erforms rule-a  djudication f unctions. Government a  s a whole i s the i nstrument t hrough which t he sovereign power of the State gets operationalised.

In ancient times the King used to perform all the functions of the government and all powers of governance stood centralised in his hands.. Gradually, however, the powers o  f King g  ot decentralised and these come to b  e exercised b  y three organs –  (i)the assembly of the  representatives of the people  or o all the classes of t he people ;(ii) the e  xecutive – the body o  fm  inisters who initially owed allegiance to t he King but who later o  n came t o be responsible r epresentatives of t he people ; a  nd (iii) t he judiciary  – the body of j udges, i nitially the royal j udges owing loyalty t o t he king but later independent  judges  a  cting as the protectors of r ights and f reedoms of the people Consequently, the government came t o b  e c haracterised by  a  tripartite division : Three organs o  government : Legislature, E  xecutive and J udiciary The Legislature  f ormulates laws, the Executive implements and e  nforces t he laws, and t he Judiciary a  djudicates and s ettles disputes b  y interpreting and applying. laws. It i s also a  u  niversally accepted rule t hat each o  f the three o  rgans of t he government carries out i ts assigned f unctions and  lso a  settled rule. The relationship between responsibilities. Independence of J udiciary is a Legislature and E  xecutive is d  efined b  y l aw and it c orresponds t o the a  dopted f orm of g  overnment. In the Parliamentary f orm o  f government l ike t he one which i s working i n I ndia and B  ritain, the legislature a  nd executive are c losely related a  nd the latter is collectively r esponsible b  efore the former. In t he Presidential form, as i s i n operation i n the U.S  .A., t he legislature and t he executive are i ndependent a  nd separate o  rgans each with a  stable and fixed t enure. The e  xecutive is not  responsible t o t he legislature. I t is directly r esponsible  t o the p  eople. Government i s an essential element of S  tate. However it k eeps on c hanging after regular  intervals. Further, Government can b  e of s everal different forms-Monarchy, o  r Aristocracy o  r

Dictatorship o  r Democracy i n its o  rganisation and w  orking. I n the g  overnment c an be either Parliamentary o  r Presidential o  rb  oth, and U  nitary and F  ederal or a mixture of the t wo. I n contemporary times every c ivilised  State has a d  emocratic government.

4. Sovereignty : Sovereignty is the most exclusive element of State. It stands accepted as the most essential element because the State alone possesses sovereignty. Some institutions existing in a state can have the first three elements but not sovereignty. State has the exclusive title and prerogative to  pines, Sovereignty provides the exercise sovereignty over its people and territory. In fact, as Laski o basis on which the State regulat  es  all aspects of the life of the people who live on its territory. Sovereignty means supreme power of the State. It h  as  two dimensions : Internal Sovereignty and External Sovereignty. (i) Internal Sovereignty - It m  eans the p  ower o  f the State t o order a  nd r egulate the activities

of all the p  eople, groups a  nd i nstitutions which a  re at work w  ithin its t erritory.

These always act in accordance with the laws of the State. The State can punish these for every violation of any of its law.

(ii) External Sovereignty - It means complete independence of the State from external control. It also means the equal freedom of the State to participate in the activities of the community of nations and to have its own foreign policy. It stands for the right of each state to have an independent foreign policy designed to secure the goals of its national interests in relations with other states. All this makes it essential to define external sovereignty of the State as sovereign equality with every other state and the equal freedom of action as a member of the international community. Each State v oluntarily a  ccepts rules o  f i nternational law. These c annot b  e forced upon any State. India is f ree t o sign or n  ot to sign N  PT, CTBT and M  TCR. N  o s tate can force h  er to d  o s o. In practice, t he government of t he State e  xercises the s overeign powers o  n behalf of t he State. S  overeignty belongs t o the State, but it i s e  xercised b  y the government. In f act, S  overeignty of the State is the basis o  f all g  overnmental authority. No S  tate c an really become a  S  tate without s overeignty. I ndia became a  S  tate i n 1947 w  hen it became i ndependent. I t was after her i ndependence that India got t he power to exercise s overeignty, internally as well as e  xternally. S  overeignty permanently, e  xclusively and absolutely b  elongs to t he State. End of sovereignty m  eans the end of t he State. That i s why s overeignty is always i dentified as the hallmark of t he State. Thus, these a  re the f our essential elements / f eatures o  f t he state. A s tate comes to be  a State only when it h  as a  ll t hese e  lements. However, out of t hese sovereignty  stands accepted as the most  important and exclusive element o  f the S  tate. N  o other o  rganisation o  r i nstitution can claim  sovereignty. An institution c an have  population, territory and government  but not s overeignty. A  ndhra P  radesh, Tamil Nadu, West B  engal Orissa, J & K  , Punjab, in fact, a  ll s tates of the  Indian Union have t heir populations, territories and governments. These a  re a  lso loosely called  states. Y  et these are n  ot really states. T  hese are parts of t he I ndian Union and I ndia i s t he Sovereign S  tate. Sikkim w  as a state  before it joined I ndia in 1975. Now it is one o  f the 28 states of  Sovereign India. U  NO is n  ot a  state and s o i s the case o  f t he Commonwealth o  f Nations, because these do n  ot possess s overeignty. The presence o  fa  ll the above discussed f our essential elements  together vest a  S  tate with statehood. (1  94 Sovereign States a  re currently m  embers of t he United N  ations)....