POLITICAL SCEICNCE-

TOPIC
STATE
INSTRUCTOR
MINHA NAZ
MPHIL POLITICAL SCIENCE
 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DEFINITION OF STATE
WHY STATES ARE IMPORTANT?
HISTORICAL CONCEPTIONS OF STATE
THEORIES OF STATE
Divine Origin Theory
The Patriarchal Theory as the Origin of the State
The Matriarchal as the Origin of the State
Force Theory
Evolutionary theory
Social Contract Theory
 STATE

A state is a community of persons, more or less numerous, occupying a

definite territory, possessing an organized government, and enjoying
independence from external control.

As used in political science, the word state means a community or society

politically organized under one independent government within a definite territory
and subject to no outside control.

Derivation: Latin word status, meaning condition, circumstances

 DEFINITION OF
STATE
“A community of families and villages having its end a
perfect and self-sufficing life.” (Aristotle)
“The state is the politically organized people of definite
territory.” (Bluntschli)
“A territorial society divided into government and subjects
claiming within its allotted physical area, supremacy over
all other institutions.” (Harold J Laski)
 WHY STATES ARE
IMPORTANT?
Plato and Aristotle also maintained that the aim of the state was public good and moral
welfare.
Necessity of State:
The state is badly needed for the public good, maintenance of law and order, social
welfare, establishment of justice, economic and political welfare of the people.
In the absence of the state anarchy will prevail and there will be chaos and confusion in
society.
The progress of the individual is not possible in the absence of the state. Development of
human personality is possible only in the well-ordered life.
The state is badly needed for the smooth-running of human life.
The state not only aims at the maintenance of law and order but also provides the
individuals with the opportunity of making progress.
The state aims at imparting justice and protects the weak against the strong.
 HISTORICAL CONCEPTIONS OF
STATE

Greek and Roman precedents:

The history of the Western state begins in ancient Greece.
Plato and Aristotle wrote of the polis, or city-state, as an ideal form of
association, in which the whole community’s religious, cultural, political, and
economic needs could be satisfied.
the Greek idea corresponds more accurately to the modern concept of the
nation i.e., a population of a fixed area that shares a common language,
culture, and history.
Roman res publica, or commonwealth, is more similar to the modern concept of
the state. The res publica was a legal system whose jurisdiction extended to all
Roman citizens, securing their rights and determining their responsibilities.
Machiavelli and Bodin:
It was 16th century that the modern concept of the state emerged.
In The Prince, Machiavelli gave prime importance to the durability of
government by sweeping aside all moral considerations and focusing
instead on the strength, the vitality, courage, and independence of the ruler.
For Bodin, power was not sufficient in itself to create a sovereign; rule
must comply with morality to be durable, and it must have continuity i.e., a
means of establishing succession.
 THEORIES OF
STATE
Divine Origin Theory:
The oldest theory about the origin of the state is the divine origin theory. It is also
known as the theory of divine right of Kings.
The exponents of this theory believe that the state did not come into being
by any effort of man. It is created by God.
The King who rules over the state is an agent of God on earth.
The King derives his authority from God and for all his actions he is
responsible to God alone. Obedience to the King is ordained to God and
violation of it will be a sin.
The King is above law and no subject has any right to question his
authority or his action. The King is responsible of God alone.
Thus the King had both political and religious entity.
 The Patriarchal Theory as the Origin of
the State
Patriarchy literally means ‘rule by the father‘ However in general sense the term is used to
denote the ‘rule by men’
The principal exponent of this theory is Sir Henry Maine.
According to him, the city is a conglomeration of several families which developed under the
control and authority of the eldest male member of the family.
State as per Henry Maine:
“Through the process of marriage the families began to expand and they gave birth to gen
which stands for a household. Several gens made one clan. A group of clans
constituted a tribe. A confederation of various tribes based on blood relations for the purpose
of defending themselves against the aggressors formed one commonwealth which is called
the state”.
Another important supporter of this theory was Aristotle. According to him- “Just as men and
women unite to form families, so many families unite to form villages and the union of
many villages forms the state which is a self-supporting unit”.
 The Matriarchal Theory as the Origin
of the State:
Morgan, Meclennan and Edward Jenks severely criticized the patriarchal theory.
According to them, patriarchal families were non existent in the primitive ages. A
patriarchal family came into existence only when the system of permanent marriage was
established.
Permanent marriages were not found among the primitive people. Kinship was traced
through the mother. Hence, the ancient social unit was not the patriarchal family, but the
matriarchal one.
Edward Jenks points out that with the passage of time and beginning of pastoral stage
in human civilization, matriarchal society evolved into patriarchal one.
In pastoral age, men recognized the value of women’s labor in tending sheep and cattle
and so gradually realized the value of permanently retaining women at home for the
purpose and thus arose the institution of permanent marriage.
 Force
Theory
It emphasizes the origin of the State in the subordination of the weak to the
strong.
The powerful conquered the weak - this process of conquest and domination
continued till the victorious tribe secured control over a definite territory.
This theory is based on the well-accepted maximum of survival of the fittest.
the theory of force is supported by the German philosophers like Friedrich Hegel,
Immanuel Kant, John Bernhardi and Triestchki. They maintain that war and force
are the deciding factors in the creation of the state.
Features:
Force is not only a historical factor, but is present essential feature of the State
The maintenance and extension of power within and without is the sole aim of the
State.
 Evolutionary
theory
It explains that the State is the product of growth, a slow and steady evolution extending
over a long period of time and shaping itself into the complex structure of a modern State.
Important Factors of rise and growth of the State:
i) Kinship
ii) Religion
iii) Property and Defense
iv) Force
v) Political Consciousness.
 Social Contract Theory

It postulates a state of nature as the original conditions.

The state of nature was not an organized society. Each man living
therein led a life of his own, uncontrolled by any laws of human
imposition.
Social Contract is a Voluntary agreement made amongst individuals
through which an organized society, or State, is brought into
existence.
The social contract obliges citizens to respect and obey the state,
ultimately in gratitude for the stability and security that only a system of
political rule can deliver.
 State of Nature The Contract:
Thomas Hobbes characterized as the pre-social phase of Agreed to surrender their natural rights into
human nature the hands of common superior
each man has to use his own power for the Obey the commands of common superior A
preservation of his own nature contract binding each and all to
all being almost equally selfish, self- unquestioning obedience to a sovereign
seeking, egoistic, brutal and aggressive. could really establish a stable
commonwealth.

John Locke It was pre-political and not pre-social Two Contracts

Men were equal and free to act they A Social Contract which brought into being the
thought fit, but within the bounds of the law of civil society or the State.
nature. A governmental contract when society in its
corporate capacity established a government
and selected a ruler to
remove the inconveniences
Locke recognized the existence of 3
powers in the civil society or the State:
legislative, executive and federative

Jean Jacques Rousseau man in this state of nature was a “noble individuals became a collective unity
savage” who led a life of primitive simplicity All individuals put powers in common under the
and idyllic happiness supreme direction of the general will
He was independent, contented, self-
sufficient, healthy, and fearless and “without
need of his fellows or desire to harm them.”