State
13.07.2025
Prof Amdadul Haque Sir
MD Mehrabur Rahman
Economics 35
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
The traditional political scientists like Garner, Gettle, Pollack and Strong
accept the centrality of the concept of State in Political Science.
To Garner, “Political Science begins and ends with state"
The term State in the modern sense was used for the first time by Niccolo
Machiavelli (1469-1527) in his book ‘The Prince'.
To the Greeks, the concept was ambiguous. They used the word 'polis’
which means 'city state’
In these city states, the emphasis was on rights and duties, not upon
supremacy and obedience. As Catlin points out, "they could more
appropriately be described as the city community rather than the modern
state”.
However the concept of State began to emerge during the later medieval
age, but it was not well articulated, it was only in the 16th century that the
Econcept of State became current.
Definition: What is State?
The modern term "state" is derived from the word "status". The state is the
most universal and most powerful of all social institutions.
The state is a natural institution.
Aristotle said man is a social animal and by nature he is a political being. To
him, to live in the state and to be a man were identical
The state is the highest form of human association. It is necessary because
it comes into existence out of the basic needs of life. It continues to remain
for the sake of good life.
The modern term "state" is derived from the word "status". The state is
the most universal and most powerful of all social institutions.
The state is a natural institution.
Aristotle said man is a social animal and by nature he is a political being. To
him, to live in the state and to be a man were identical
The state is the highest form of human association. It is necessary because
it comes into existence out of the basic needs of life. It continues to remain
for the sake of good life.
Burgess says that state is "a particular portion of mankind viewed as an
organized unit."
Woodrow Wilson says that the state "is a people organized for law within a
definite territory."
Aristotle defined the state as a “Union of families and villages having for
its end a perfect and self-sufficing life by which it meant a happy and
good life".
According to Sidgwick. "State is a combination or association of persons in
the form of government and governed and united together into a politically
organized people of a definite territory.
Bodin defines the state as, "An association of families and their common
possessions governed by a supreme power and by reason.
Prof. Laski defines “State as a territorial society divided into government
and subjects whose relationships are determined by the exercise of supreme
coercive power”.
According to Garner, 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 organized
government to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual
obedience".
This definition covers all the elements of modern state which are: first a
number of persons, second, the occupation of a definite territory, third,
having a well-organized government, fourth, possessing independence of
external control.
The Elements of State
Physical bases of state
1. Population
2. Territory
Political bases of state
1. Government
2. Sovereignty
State being a human institution, cannot be conceived of without human
beings.
Population is essential to a state as threads are to a piece of cloth. A desert
or a mountain peak where people normally do not live, cannot be described
a state. This much is, therefore, certain that there must be some people to
constitute a state.
Now the question arises how many people should be there to form a state?
This question regarding the number of persons necessary or desirable for
constituting a state cannot be answered in concrete terms. There is no limit
to the size of its population. All that is required is that there must be some
human being living in it. This does not mean a dozen people or so living in
place will form a state. Their number should not be very small, but there is
no ceiling (limit) to the population of the state.
Some writers have tried to suggest a limit, for example, Plato felt that an
effective number of 5040 citizens should be sufficient.
His disciple Aristotle opined that the population should be large enough
to be self sufficing and small enough to be well-governed. According to
him a hundred persons would rather be too small a number but a hundred
thousand would be too unmanageable.
Likewise Rousseau, a great admirer of small republics and direct democracy,
thought that ten thousand may be an ideal number.
While some states like the U.S.A., Russia, and Canada are still under
populated relative to area, resources and similar factors. Other states like
India, China and Italy are confronted by the problem of a population which
is expanding too rapidly for their Aural or technological resources.
Therefore, every state strives to confine its population within its exiting or
potential resources. The former set of states (U.S.A., former U.S.S.R. and
Canada) encourages increased population in comparison to the latter which
attempts to control the population.
Territory is the second essential element of the state. The people do not
become a state unless they permanently settle down in some territory.
Previously, philosophers like Hall, Duguit, and Seeley etc. did not attach
much importance to the permanent settlement of a people on some
territory.
There is now a consensus that nomadic people do not form a state though
they may not be deficient in political organization.
Therefore, territory is indispensable in the making of the state. The
authority of the state extends not only over persons, but over the territory
also.
The extent of territory that a state should possess depends upon the size of
the population it has to support.
It may be added that the territory of a state also includes, besides the land
surface the entire Space above the land surface. Further, authority of the
state also extends over a part of the sea that touches its territory coast. The
of this maritime or coastal belt as it is is generally three miles.
Finally, it may be remarked that the territory of a state should
preferably be contiguous. If it scattered and separated, it will pose
administrative difficulties.
Pakistan as it existed before the creation of Bangladesh consisted of the
East and West.
Pakistan separated from each other by two thousand miles has been a
victim of this geographical misfortune.