THE NATURE OF THE STATE

Meaning of the State. As used in Political Science, the term State means an assemblage of
people occupying a definite territory under an organised government and subject to no
outside control.

The State is a natural, a necessary, and a universal institution It is natural because it is

rooted in the reality of human nature It is necessary, because, as Aristotle said, “The State
comes into existence originating in the bare needs of life and continuing in existence for the
sake of good life ” Man needs the State to satisfy his diverse needs and to be what he
desires to be.

Definition of the state:

Holland defines the State as “a numerous assemblage of human beings, generally

occupying a certain terntory, amongst whom the will of the majority, or of an ascertainable
class of persons, is by the strength of such a majority, or class, made to prevail against any
of their number who oppose it ”

Hall says, “The marks of an independent State are that the community constituting it is
permanently established for a political end, that it possesses a defined territory and that it is
independent of external control,”and a State exists, according to Oppenheim, “when a
people is settled m a country under its own sovereign government ”

, “when a people is settled m a country under its

own sovereign government ” Bluntschli says, “The State is the politically organised people
of a definite territory,” and, according to Woodrow Wilson, it “is the people organised for
law within a definite territory,”

Harold Laski defines the State as “a territorial socieiv divided into Government and
subjects claiming, within its allotted physical area, a supremacy over all other institutions ”
Gabriel Almond says that the Political System, the term he uses for the State, “is that
system of interactions to be found in all independent societies which perform the functions
of integration and adaptation ^ (both internally' and vis-a-vis other societies) by means of
the employment, or threat of employment, of more or less legitimate physical compulsion ”

Robert Dahl says,

“The political
system made up of the residents of the territ nal area and Government of the area is a
‘State’

Robert Dahl says,

“The political
system made up of the residents of the territ nal area and Government of the area is a
‘State’
ELEMENTS OF THE STATE
The State must, therefore, possess the elements of

1 Population,
2. Territory,
3 Government,
4 Sovereignty

Population

Aristotle rightly said that a good citizen makes a good State

and a bad citizen a bad State A good citizen must be
intelligent, disciplined, and healthy Healthy citizens are
the health of the State, for disease diminishes intelligence,
capacity for work, energy and vitality, it makes for poor
production, laziness and lethargy Similarly, good citizens
will not allow religious or political differences to destroy
the State’s unity and security

Territory

Even Duguit admits that in practice there can be no State

without a fixed territory. There is no State without its
proper territory, large or small, and no territory that is
not part of some State, large or small.

Government
The purpose for which people live together cannot be realized unless they are properly organised and accept certain rules of

conduct The agency created to enforce such rules of conduct and to ensure obedience is called government. The State cannot
and does not exist without a government, no matter what form a government may assume

Sovereignty

Sovereignty of the State is its most essential and distinguishable feature A people inhabiting a definite portion of terntory and
having a government do not constitute a State They must be internally supreme and free from external control Sovereignty of
the State has two aspects internal sovereignty and external sovereignty Internal sovereignty is the State’s monopoly of
authority inside its boundaries This authority cannot be shared with any other State and none of us members within its

territory can owe obedience to any other State If the State admits no rival within its own territory, it logically follows that it has
no authority outside its own territory' Each State is independent of other States Its will is its own, unaffected by the will of any

other external authority

STATE ANDGOVERNMENT

Government is the agency or the machinery through which common policies are determined and by which common affairs are

regulated and common interests promoted It is the manifestation of the State and it consists of all those persons, institutions and

agencies by which the will and policy of the State is .

expressed and carried out Government includes “the whole network of local
institutions, elected bodies and appointed officials, the wffiole civil service in all its ramifications, down to the lowest official charged

with the carrying out of policy Fwo results flow from . it Gcnernmcnt is the organization of the State, Its working machinery The

State has authority inherent in itself whereas government has no inherent powers . Maclver says, “when we speak of the

we mean the organization of which government is the administrative organ.. A State has a constitution, a code of laws, a
State,
way of setting up its government, a body of its citizens. The State is an abstraction whereas government is emphatically concrete It

is the working machinery of the State and it wields on its behalf that legal authority which is the inherent power ol tlu Siak*

STATE AND SOCIETY

Society is the product of man’s instinctive desire for association which finds expression in the aggregation of people having
common interests and united together by what may be called “consciousn«s of the kind ” The people who live together
think alike, associate with one another, and make common efforts for a common purpose or plan They establish, what
Sociologists call, “functional” institutions for the realisation of that common purpose which associated men together It may be a

club, a debating society, a religious economic or political association .

The geographical areas of the State and society may be the same and their membership may also be identical, but they are

distinct in origins, aims and functions The State exists for one single purpose and Its functions arc relative to that purpose.
Since society is natural and instinctive and the State is the creation of will and reason, society is prior to the State and it

embraces all communities, organised and unorganised Organisation is not the essential characteristic of society. But the State

must necessarily be organized .

The State is sovereign and it lays down a system of imperatives If one disobeyes the imj^eratives d” the State, which take the
form of laws, one can be punished But society does not possess coercive power That is the monopoly of the State Society, no
doubt, has its own rules which regulate social behaviour, but they are not imperatives They are simply rules of conduct, which
the members of society are desired to observe It has no authority to force obedience Nor can it physically punish those who
disobey its rules Society ensures the observance of us rules by persuasion, and appeal to the good will of its members Barker
rightly says, “the area of society is voluntary co-operation, its energy is good will and its method is elasticity, while the area of

the State is mechanical action, its energ>' is force and its method is rigidity ”

The State, thus, represents the highest form of social organisation and It exists to regulate and cement social relations.

Following IS the summary to clarify the points involved in the discussion

1 Society IS instinctive to man and is spontaneous in its growth and development Maciver says, “wherever living beings enter into,

or maintain, willed relations with one another, there society exists ” The State is one of the associations contained within society,
the creation of man’s will and reason to maintain and cement the various aspects of social life Two results, then, follow
(
i
) societyIS both prior to and wider than the State, andsociety IS a
( complex of all such associations as economic, educational, religious,
i
i political and cultural
)
“Society precedes the State just as it precedes the family, the church, the corporation, the political party It unites all these as a
tree unites its branches. The State is one of these associations, and it has become the most prominent of all because it controls and
coordinates the various aspects of social life.
2 The purposes of society arc many and diverse whereas the purpose of the State is only one, its political organization and its

end is related to its purpose to which It must confine itself .

3. The State is definitely territorial, society is not. Loyalty to the State does not exhaust all the social obligations of man.
4. The structure of society is elastic and it is based upon the voluntary cooperation of its members, it appeals and persuades.
The State is compact, its actions arc mechanical, its methods arc rigid and its power is force
5 The State issues orders and their disobedience is accompanied by physical punishment. Society acts upon its members
through customs, conventions and moral rules It exercises social pressures but not force
6. In spite of these differences between society and the State, they are connected and inter-dependent Social conduct must conform

to the way of life prescribed by the laws of the State But the State must not trespass into the sphere not assigned to its

jurisdiction

STATE AND ASSOCIATIONS

An association is defined as “a group of persons or members who are

associated into a unity of will for a common end Cole defines
and organised
It.“Any group of persons pursuing a common purpose or system or aggregation of purposes by a course of co-operative
action extending beyond a single act, and for this purpose agreeing together upon certain methods of procedure and laying

down, m however rudimentary a form, rules for common action .

An association is defined as “a group of persons or members who are
associated and organised into a unity of will for a common end.

The State, too, is a group of human beings It comes into existence, like other groups, to satisfy human needs through
concerted action While each group has its distinctive character and problems, yet all pursue their activities to secure a happy
and good life.

COMMUNITY AND INSTITUTIONS

By communitv", says Maclver, “I mean an area of common life, village or town, or district, or country, oi even wider area.’’ ^2

Common life and common consciousness are the two distinctive features of a community, whatever be the extent of area the\
refer to The men who live together on a common land “develop in some kind or degree distiru tive omrnon c

characteristics, manners, traditions, mode of speech and so on ”

Institutions. Society, is a honeycomb of associations, but no association can function without an institution An institution is the
form, the structure or the framework of an association It is a means by which the purpose of an association IS realized, the

instrument “through which common interests are realized, the mechanism on which is based the success or failure of an
association ” Or to put It in a simple way, institution is a group of people working towards a common aim.

NATURE OF THE STATE

THE ORGANIC NATURE OF THE STATE

Organic theory explained. The union of individuals forming the State has been described as similar to the union between the
several parts of an animal body, wherein all parts are functionally related and none can exist in isolation trom the rest. Just as
the body has a natural unity, so has a social group An arm lives and moves only as a part of an organic whole.

In other words, as the animal body IS composed of cells, so is the Stale composed of several individuals, and as is the “relation of
the hand to the body, or the leaf to the tree, so is the relation of man
to society He exists in it and it in him ” The State is an organic unity —“a
living spiritual being.

History of the Theory.

The new theory, that the State is an orj^anism, took root in German soil and there it found its most notable adv(x:ates But the
culmination of the theory was reached in the writings of Bluntschli The State, he asserted, is the very “image of human
organism ” As “an oil painting,” he said, “is something more than a mere aggregation of drops of oil, as a statue is something
more than a combination of marble particles, as a man is something more than a mere quantity of cells and blexxi corpuscles, so
the nation is something more than a mere aggregation of citizens, and the State something more than a mere collection of
externalregulations ” He stretched his biological analogy to the extreme and endowed the Stale with the quality of sex,
describing it as having a male personality.

Theory as expanded by Spencer. The theory that the State is an organism received a most scientific treatment at the hands of
Herbert Spencer, the English philosopher Spencer believed that social life is a part of an ever-evolving nature and starting from the
idea of a universal evolution, he afterwards included biological evolution in his analysis He asserted that society is an organism
and it differs in no essential principle from other biological organisms 1 he attributes of an organism and society, he maintained,

are similar and the permanent relations existing between their various parts are also the same. Both exhibit the same process of

development The animal and social bodies, Spencer affirmed, begin as germs, all similar and simple m structure. As they grow

and develop, they become unlike and complex in structure Their process of development is the same; both moving from
similarity and simplicity to dissimilarity and complexity. “As the lowest type of animal is all stomach, respiratory surface or limb, so
primitive society is all warrior, all hunter, all builder, or all tool-maker As society grows in complexity, division of labour follows, i

e , new organs with different functions appear, corresponding to the differentiation of functions m the animal, m which
fundamental trait they become entirely alike ”

Evaluation of the Theory. There are two points of view about the organic nature of the State Barker says, “The State is not an
organism, but it is like an organism ” ^ The organic analogy has a useful purpose to serve as it emphasLses the unity of the
State "Ehe State is not a mere aggregation of people It is a social unity Man cannot lead a life of isolation Dependence is his
very psychology and individuals depend on one another and on the State as a whole The welfare of each is involved in the
welfare of all He cannot be separated from society, just as a hand or a leg, without losing its utility, cannot be separated from
the body. The State has a collective life like an organism The attainment of the common
purpose depends upon the proper performance by every individual of his functions or duties.