DE LA SALLE

SANTIAGO ZOBEL
SCHOOL

THE STATE

HIGH SCHOOL SOCIAL

STUDIES DEPARTMENT
SCHOOL YEAR 2011-2012

Volume 1, Issue 1I

Special points of
interest:
Show the relationship
between nation, state and
country
Highlight the salient characteristics of the state
Relate the various elements of the state to the
stability of the state
Compare and contrast
the various theories
related to the making of
the state

Inside this issue:

Core Terminologies Related to

Statehood

Characteristics of 1
the State
Elements of the
State

Theories on the
Origin of State

June 2012

Core Terminologies Related to Statehood

Foreword
According to J. Garner, "Political
Science begins and ends with the
state." One of the general foci of
Political Science as a discipline is the
indepth understanding of statehood. The making of a state plays
an important role in the development of modern societies. It is the
most powerful and universal social
organization as defined by political
scientists.
Core Definitions
A state is a community of persons
more or less numerous, permanently
occupying a definite portion of territory,
having a government of their own to
which the great body of inhabitants
render obedience, and enjoying
freedom from external control. (J.
Garner)
People often interchangeably use
the terms nation, country and state.
Country and State are synonymous
terms that both apply to selfgoverning political entities while
nation is a group of people who
share the same culture, language,

institutions, religion, and history

usually a group of people larger than
a tribe or community. When a
nation of people has an independent
State of their own it is often called a
nation-state. The evolution of modern states and the victorious assertion of ethnic tribes to rule on their
own assisted the formation of nation states.
Historically, governments often used
two opposing theories to define a
countrythe Montevideo Convention Treaty or the Constitutive Theory of Statehood.
In 1933, at the Montevideo Convention, formed in Uruguay, was a
treaty signed stating the Rights and
Duties of States. The treaty defined
a State using four criteriaa permanent population, a defined territory,
a government, and a capacity to
enter into relations with other
States. The Convention also declared that a State did not have to
be recognized by other States,
meaning, a country can exist even if
other countries do not recognize it.
Conversely, the Constitutive Theory of Statehood said that a country
existed if it was recognized as sov-

State is a legal or juristic

concept, while Nation is an
ethnic or racial concept.
ereign by other countries. Therefore, if other countries recognized a
country as independent, it was, even
if the country did not have control
of its territory or a permanent
population.

Characteristics of the State

The state can be characterized as consisting of a
number of agents and offices. Thus, within the state
a whole range of offices
can be identified as:
Government Ministers
Judiciary
Bureaucrats
Army
Police
Education
Local Government

In this sense, the state is an

umbrella term that covers
all offices that make and
enforce the collective decisions and rules of society.
(Hague et. al., 1992)
Although the state and the
government are used interchangeably, they should
not be.

The most significant difference between the state

and government is the
permanence of the state
over time. The personnel
and institutions of the state
fulfill their roles on a more
permanent basis than the
politicians who form the
government of the day.

Page 2

THE STATE

Elements of the State

Sovereignty resides in the

people and all government authority emanates
from them. (Art.II, Sec. 1
Philippine Constitution)

There are four essential elements that comprise a state.

Political scientists believe that
lacking one of these elements
will cause state destabilization.
These are:
People - This includes the
population (regardless of race,
ethnicity or gender) living in a
specific territory. As a requisite for Statehood, there
should be an adequate number
for self-sufficiency and defense;
of both sexes for perpetuity.
Territory - this includes the
specific area (fluvial, terrestrial
aerial and marine) inhabited by
the people.. The exact territory should be large enough to

ensure the selfsufficiency of

the people in the state.
Government - this refers to
the to the agency to which the
will of the state is formulated,
expressed, and carried out.
Our Constitution, however,
requires our government to be
democratic and republican.
The Philippines is a republican
state because it is one wherein
all government authority emanates from the people and is
exercised by representatives
chosen by the people. It also
democratic state because emphasizes that the Philippines has
distinct aspects of democracy

such as initiative, referendum and

representation in the government.
Sovereigntyrefers to the
supreme and uncontrollable
power innate in a State by
which that State is governed.
There are two types:
Internal power of the
state to rule within its territory
External the freedom of
the state to carry out its
activities without subjection
to or control by other states.

Theories on the Origin of State

A state is not
subject to
external
control while a
nation may or
may not be
independent of
external
control.

The Divine Right Theory

This theory is believed to be one of
the primitive theories related to
the making of the states. This
theory states that a Supreme Being
is responsible in forming a state.
The person who rules the government, specifically the monarch (king
or emperor), is believed to be a
chosen ruler or sent by the Supreme Being. These leaders represent the Supreme Beings thus they
should be treated like gods or
goddesses. People have no choice
but to follow the decisions of their
rulers since it is believed that the
rulers, like the gods, would do the
right thing. Through this, the rulers may abuse their power since
they can get what they want from
the people they rule.
The development of kingship of the
ancient Hebrews, who were also
military leaders, brought about the
outlines of a formal state. This is
characterized by absolute centralized authority, formalized hierarchy,
specialization of tasks in performance of public duty and written
instead of oral communication.
The institution of kingship required
that the kings rule be legitimate in
the minds of his subjects. In order
to give legitimacy to the kings rule,
there was a need to construct a
theory that merged politics with
religious beliefs, a doctrine that
would give more power and persuasive sanction to the position of
king, which is divine will.

The Divine Right Theory was dominant up to the end of the Middle
Ages. The king was subject to
judgment only by God but not by
his subjects or any agency.
This same theory of force applies
with the Divine Right of Kings. It is
claimed they had spiritual power
that was given to them by God as
sovereigns of state and granted
them absolute power and authority
over their subjects. God created
the state, and gave certain people
the right to govern lands and that
has progressed steadily throughout
history in what could only be described as fate.
Social Contract Theory According to this theory, a state is
formed when there is an agreement between an organized government and the people governed.
The government, in exchange for
the rights given to them to rule the
people, should guarantee and secure the rights and privileges of
people in society. There is somewhat a contract between the
people and the government as to
how the country is to be ruled and
what are the duties and responsibilities of both the government and
the people within the country.
This theory gained popularity in the
17th and 18th century. It explained
that the State was formed by
means of a social contract of men
and women, who lived in a state of
nature. State of nature meant that
people lived together without any

agency to establish peace and order

to settle conflicts. First, Thomas
Hobbes sees people as selfish, cruel
and greedy. Thus to control these
behavior, a social contract is
formed by the government and
people. According to Hobbes, an
absolute government is recommended to control the nasty behavior of
people. Another interpretation is
that of John Locke. Locke said that
people are normally reasonable and
moral. Along with this, people
have natural rights, like the right to
life, liberty and property The role
of the government is to protect the
people from the evils of society and
preserve their natural rights. Thus,
Locke recommends a government
with limited power and accepted
by citizens. The last idea what that
of Jean Jacques Rousseau. He believed that government controls
are necessary to limit peoples
behavior. But the general will
should be the best conscience of
the government. The good of the
community as a whole should be
taken into consideration.
Force Theory
The state came into existence out
of conquest, force or coercion.
Before the state existed, there
were always leaders strong enough
to assert their leadership and power through violence or conquest.
According to history, strong and
mighty conquerors have succeeded
in consolidating territories into
empire-states.

Volume 1, Issue 1I

Page 3

Theories on the Origin of State

It's the most historically relevant
and still applies in some modern
day societies. It is the theory of
singular command; dictatorship.
One person, or a group, forces all
the people in an area to obey their
rule. It often happens through war,
in which the weak or the defeated
parties are forced to submit. Some
political scientist refer to it as the
conflict theory this theory states
that might is right, meaning the
strong has the right to rule the
weak. Further, this theory states
that order in a society can only be
attained if we segregate the strong,
intelligent and brave. This theory
does not believe that there is an
agreement between the ruler and
the ruled. It stresses the need to
have a strong leader who can direct the whole nation to reach its
goals. That specific leader uses his
charism, military power or fame to
direct the nation.
Thrasymchus of Ancient Greece,
Niccolo Machiavelli of the early 16 th
century and Thomas Hobbes of the
early 17th century believed that
effective power to rule can also
legitimately claim to have the authority to rule. The consequence
of this theory is that power legitimizes itself no matter how wrong
and unjustified this power is in a
democratic context.
Natural Theory
The state is a natural institution
and not an abstract or artificial
being. It is a natural system that
unifies its citizens. Under this theory, the state is just like a living
organism, which is natural because
it has the capacity to grow, develop

and attain a fully civilized life.

The Organic Theory refers to
the perspectives of the Ancient
Greeks that the state is man writ
large. The state is an evolving
organism, a living body that evolves
into higher forms. In the long
course of social evolution, each
individual must become an organic
part of a group to fulfill his/her
interest and needs. These aspirations had been progressively met
by the family, the clan, the tribe,
the nation and finally, by the complete community of social existence
that was best expressed by the
State.
Patriarchal Theory
In the Origin of the State, Robert
Lowie proposed that the complexity of social life under state rule
could be explained from a simple
origin, an institution that contained
the seed, which eventually flowered
into the fully formed state. He
referred to these institutions as the
associations, which were developed
from small communities like the
villages and clans. Further growth
and development of the institution
led to the formation of the state.
For instance, the father is the head
of the family, and family is an automatic community of its own accord.
By this theory it would suggest that
humanity is programmed to be a
community.

animal. Men and women interact

with others for their security, selfpreservation and economic wellbeing. Moreover, the state was
formed because of mans predisposition towards political association.
It states that man by nature is a
social being.
According to Aristotle and Edmund
Burke, reason is an attribute that
distinguishes man from animals and
that the state is an evolving social
organization and is good because it
develops mans rational being,
intensifies mans political involvement and maximizes citizens participation in politics.
Economic Theory
The state developed out of men
and womens economic wants. Man
in isolation could not procure all
the necessary things that he needed.
He had to associate with other
men in order to provide themselves with their various needs
through the exchange of goods and
services, which led to societal
existence. Thus, the state was
formed.

The state came into

existence out of conquest, force or coercion.

The government
controls are
necessary to
limit peoples
behavior.

Instinctive theory
The state was created because of
natural inclination of men and
women towards political associations. It is best described by Aristotles man by nature is a political

Sources:
Castillo, L. T. The State Political Science Handouts De La Salle Zobel High School Department, Academic Year 20112012.
Kumar, Armind What is the meaning and definition of State?
http://www.preservearticles.com/2011100414554/what-is-the-meaning-and-definition-of-state.html June 17, 2012
Nera, Lauron, Ma. Theresa. (2000) Sibika at Kultura sa Makabagong Panahon. Manila: Ibon Foundation Inc.,
Olson, Liz. St at e , C o u n t r y , an d N at io n : The Criteria that Defines a Country, An Independent State, and a Nation
State, Country, and Nation Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/state-country-nation.html#ixzz1y5T0gk8t
____A Theory of State Formation and the Origins of Inequality (http://www2.lse.ac.uk/government/research/resgroups/PSPE/pdf/Boix.pdf )
April 16, 2012
____. Theories on the Origins of State (http://www.cms.gcg11.org/attachments/article/263/Theories%20of%20the%20origin%20of%20the%
20state.pdf ) April 16, 2012
____. Theories and Origins of Government (http://ecsite.cs.colorado.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Locke-and-Origins.ppt) April 16, 2012

-Jean Jacques Rousseau