NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF STUDY AND 

               RESEARCH IN LAW, RANCHI 

                                    

    
 POLITICAL SCIENCE PROJECT 
               Essential Elements of the State
SUBMITTED TO:                    SUBMITTED
BY: 
DR. NARENDRA NAROTTAM              NAME: ADITI OHDAR 
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR                        SEMESTER: I 
                                                                         SECTION: A 
                                                                         ROLL NO: 1213
 

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   TABLE OF CONTENTS 

 
1. DECLARATION……………………………………………….

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………..

3. OBJECTIVES………………………………………………….

4. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………...

5. WHAT IS THE STATE?............................................................

6. THE ELEMENTS OF THE STATE…………………………..

7. POPULATION………………………………………………….

8. TERRITORY…………………………………………………....

9. GOVERNMENT………………………………………………...

10.SOVEREIGNTY………………………………………………...

11.REFERENCES…………………………………………………..

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   DECLARATION 

I, Aditi Ohdar, a first semester BALLB student of National University of Study and Research
in Law, Ranchi, hereby declare that the project titled “Essential Elements of the
State” under the guidance of Dr. Narendra Narottam Sir, faculty of Political Science, is an
original work, free from any kind of plagiarism, the diagrams and pictures used are either
self-created by me or appropriate credits are given. I have made sincere efforts to complete
this project and have not done any misrepresentation of fact or data. 
 
I declare that the statements made and the conclusions drawn are the bona fide outcome of
the research work. I further assert that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, proper
references have been given and does not contain any work that has been submitted in any
other university.   
 
 
 
    
 
 
 

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I, Aditi Ohdar, would like to thank all of those who helped me during the whole procedure of
making this project and helped me in completing it successfully.      
Firstly, I would like to thank my teacher and mentor Dr. Narendra Narottam Sir who showed
faith in me by providing such a wonderful topic. His constant guidance has played a vital role
in completion of this project successfully. His keen attention helped me to deal with each
problem that I faced during the making of this project. My heartfelt gratitude to all the staff
members and administrators of NUSRL for providing me with a wonderful library. Their
support cannot be expressed in words. 

Finally, I would like to thank God for his benevolence and grace in enabling me to finish this
task. I express my heartfelt gratitude to my parents, siblings, and friends who helped me to
complete this project without much problems.
 
Thanking You, 
ADITI OHDAR 
SEMESTER: I  
SECTION: A  
ROLL NO:1213

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 OBJECTIVES

The objective of this project work is to understand: 

 What is the state?
 What are the essential elements of the state?
 Explanation of the essential elements of the state.

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 INTRODUCTION

The aim of this topic is to examine the nature of the modern state. As a result, we will
highlight the characteristics that distinguish the state from other social groups such as
churches, schools, and social clubs. Because the term "state" is frequently misunderstood, we
must first provide a definition before moving on. Then go from there. We provide a number
of definitions below, although none of them can be said to be universal acceptance. There are
millions of different interpretations of what the state id is and should be.

We are unable to go into greater detail due to space constraints, but it would be prudent for
you to consider the following. Examine the definitions and compare them to others you may
come across. The following definitions have been compiled from a variety of sources. They
were chosen because they emphasise the topics covered in this topic.

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 WHAT IS THE STATE?

A state is a planned political structure that perform beneathneath a government. States can be
labelled as independent if they're now no longer dependent on, or issue to, another power or
state. States are taken into consideration to be issue to outside dominion, or hegemony, if
their final sovereignty lies in any other state.

It is significant that though a few types of political organization have existed due to the fact
ancient times, including Greek city-states and the Roman empire, but the idea of the 'state' as
such is relatively modern. The modern idea of the state owes its beginning to Machiavelli
(1469-1527) who expressed this concept in early 16th century as 'the power which has
authority over men' (The Prince; 1513).1

R.M. Maclver, in his famous work The Modern State (1926), sought to distinguish the state
from other kinds of associations in that it embraces the whole of people in a specific territory
and it has the special function of maintaining social order. It performs this function through
its agent, the government 'which speaks with the voice of law'. Similarly, R.M. Maclver and
C.H. Page (Society: An Introductory Analysis; 1950) have observed: "The state is
distinguished from all other associations by its exclusive investment with the final power of
coercion." 2

The word state means a community or society politically prepared beneathneath one impartial
authority inside a precise territory and subject to no outdoor control. There may be no
network with out the humans to shape one, and no not unusual place existence with out a few
precise pieces of territory to stay in.

The Elements of the State

1
https://www.iilsindia.com/study-material/528569_1600581365.pdf
2
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/modern-state-by-r-
m-maciver-new-york-oxford-university-press-1926-pp-xii-504/2CF8FCCB6A9D856C7D2E1A087C809278

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The state is an affiliation prominent via way of means of
 territorial limits,
 inclusiveness inside one’s limits,
 the strength in its officials to workout pressure and the concern of pressure as
contraptions of policy, and
 the ownership via way of means of its officials of last felony authority.

The state is an affiliation which, appearing thru regulation as promulgated via way of means
of a central authority endowed to this give up with coercive powers, continues inside a
network territorially demarcated the regularly occurring outside situations of social order.
Starting with the definitions we're prepared to analyse the character and essence of the
cutting-edge state. We see that every state is constructed up from some of perceptible factors
which we can also additionally name the critical factors of the state.
The state has four essential elements:
 Population
 Territory
 Government
 Sovereignty

POPULATION

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The primary physical elements, necessary to the existence of states are population and
territory. It is impossible to lay down any rule a priori approximately the importance of any
such population: one can only say be reduction absurdum that a single family is not sufficient
The people need to be sufficient to maintain political organisation, hence distinguishing
among public and private affairs. It is however, difficult to fix the size of the population of a
state. Modern states substantially range in population. While a few contemporary-day states
(e.g., the USA, Russia and Canada) are nonetheless below populated regarding area, assets
and comparable factors, others (e.g., China, India, Egypt) are faced with the aid of using the
trouble of populace that's increasing too unexpectedly for his or her herbal and technological
assets.

A population containing a finite wide variety of people, individuals or units is a class. A

population with limitless wide variety of individuals is referred to as limitless population.
The population of pressures at numerous factors withinside the ecosystem is an instance of
infinite population. The population of concrete people is referred to as existent population,
while as the gathering of all feasible approaches wherein an occasion can materialize because
the hypothetical population. The population is nicely described in order that there may be no
ambiguity as to whether or not a given unit belongs to the population. Many writers have
evinced what de Jouvenel [1963] calls the nostalgia for the small community, a forged of
mind which is going lower back to the Greeks. Aristole, for instance, held that even as ten
guys have been too few to represent an excellent polis, 100 thousand have been too many.
The Greeks have been properly conscious that large empires existed; they disliked such huge
groupings now no longer due to the fact they concept them not possible of realization,
however for the sake of precise government.

TERRITORY
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Territory is a geographical area subject to the sovereignty, control, or jurisdiction of a state or
other entity.3

According to Hassner, 1997- “Territory is a compromise between a mythical aspect and a

rational or pragmatic one. It is three things: a piece of land, seen as a sacred heritage; a
seat of power; and a functional space. It encompasses the dimensions of identity of authority
(the state as an instrument of political, legal, police and military control over a population
defined by its residence; and of administrative bureaucratic or economic efficiency in the
management of social mechanisms, particularly of interdependence. The strength of the
national territorial state depends upon the combination of these three dimensions.” 4

Leon Duguit says, “The word State designates the rulers or else the society itself m which the
differentiation between rulers and ruled exists and m which, for that very reason, a public
power exists”5

The tradition of geopolitics illustrates that these academic territories, in the sense of different
academic vocabularies, may be vital contexts withinside the production of the language that
may be used withinside the interpretation of the spatiality of the world.

In addition, the state's territory includes not only land but also rivers, lakes, canals, inland
seas (if any), a piece of the coastal sea—territorial waters or maritime belt, continental shelf,
mountains, hills, and all other land features, as well as the air space above the territory.

Some islands in the sea may be included in the state's territory. Andaman & Nicobar and
Daman & Diu, for example, are Indian territories. The state has complete sovereignty over its
whole area. The state's floating components are ships, and its flying parts are aeroplanes. A
state can also lease its territory to another state; for example, India has granted Bangladesh
the Teen Bigha corridor on lease.

GOVERNMENT
3
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/territory/
4
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301626083_Territory#:~:text=Territory%20is%20an
%20ambiguous%20term,(Agnew%2C%202000).
5
https://www.politicalscienceview.com/essential-elements-of-state/

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Government is the state's organisation, mechanism, agency, or magistracy that creates,
implements, enforces, and adjudicates its laws. The third and last component of the state is
government. The state's sovereign power is exercised through its government. This can give
the appearance that there is no distinction between the government and the state. However, it
is important to remember that governance is only one aspect of the state. It is the State's
representative or working agency. Sovereignty belongs to the state, and the government only
acts on its behalf.

Aristotle says, “Government must be in the hands of one, of a few, or of the many; and
governments may govern for the general good or for the good of the rulers. Government by a
single person for the general good is called “monarchy”; for private benefit, “tyranny.” 6
When a minority governs in the best interests of the state, it is called "aristocracy," and when
it benefits solely the governing minority, it is called "oligarchy." Aristotle refers to popular
government in the public good as "polity," while anarchic mob rule is referred to as
"democracy."

Without governance, the people will be a jumble of languages with no sense of cohesion or
ability to act together. They would split up into factions, parties, and even opposing
organisations, resulting in complete chaos and even civil war. As a result, wherever people
dwell, there must be a common authority and, as a result, an order. It is a requirement of
human life, and as such, government is a necessary component of the state. The State cannot
survive without a government, regardless of the form it takes.

Each government is divided into three organs:

1. Legislature: formulates the State's will, i.e. executes legislative tasks;

2. Executive— enforces and executes laws, i.e., performs law-application functions; and
3. Judiciary—which applies the laws to specific circumstances and resolves disputes, i.e.
adjudicates.
All government tasks were performed by the King in ancient times, and all governing
authorities were centralised in his hands. However, the King's powers became decentralised,

6
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aristotle/Political-theory

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and they came to be exercised by these three government organs: The Legislature, the
Executive, and the Judiciary. Each of the government's three organs performs its designated
functions. The judiciary's independence is likewise a well-established rule. The relationship
between the Legislature and the Executive is governed by legislation and is based on the
system of government chosen. The legislature and executive are closely associated in a
Parliamentary form of government, such as the one used in India and the United Kingdom,
and the latter is collectively responsible before the former.

SOVEREIGNTY

The most important and distinguishing quality of a state is its sovereignty. A state is defined
as a group of people who live in a specific area and have a government. They must be
supreme internally and independent of external influence. The most exclusive aspect of the
state is sovereignty. Sovereignty belongs solely to the state. No state can exist without
sovereignty. The first three elements (population, territory, and government) can be present in
some institutions, but not sovereignty.

The state has the sole right and authority to exert supreme power over all of its citizens and
territory. Indeed, sovereignty is the foundation upon which the state governs all aspects of the
lives of those who live within its borders.

Sovereignty has two dimensions as the state's supreme power:

  Internal Sovereignty:
Internal sovereignty is the State’s monopoly of authority inside its boundaries. It
refers to the state's ability to direct and govern the activities of all people, groups, and
institutions operating within its borders. All of these institutions follow the laws of the
state at all times. They can be punished by the state for breaking any of its laws.
When parents discipline their minor children, the use of corporal punishment is
sanctioned by the customer, and power may be assigned to school authorities when
they function in loco parentis. Some organisations may impose fines or other
punishments on members who break the rules; a church may excommunicate an
offending member; and in other organisations, recalcitrant members may be

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 ostracised. These pressures and sanctions may be sufficient to dissuade people from
breaching the rules, or to force those who have been penalised to follow them. If the
affected person's religious or social ties are important to them, excommunication and
ostracism can be harsh penalties. However, no organisation, with the exception of the
State, is permitted to employ severe physical force to coerce compliance with its
choices. Only the state has the authority to meddle with the bodily liberty and life of
its citizens. Recognizing that power represented through the use of force is critical to
the state does not imply that such power should be unrestricted and unchecked. The
use of force is always vulnerable to abuse, and the subject of how to tame, regulate,
and make force accountable is crucial in any political community.
 External Sovereignty:
It entails the state's complete independence from external control. It also entails the
state's complete freedom to participate in the activities of the international
community. Each state has the sovereign authority to create and implement its own
foreign policy. External sovereignty of a state can be defined as its sovereign equality
with all other states. The state freely accepts international law's rules. These cannot be
imposed on the government. India has the option of signing or not signing any treaty
with any other country. No state has the authority to compel it to do so. External
sovereignty has been interpreted to suggest that a state can decide its own behaviour
without any constraints, and that any arbitrary or hostile behaviour can be justified as
a result. Apart from the serious moral objections to such a viewpoint (which
effectively claims that might be right in international affairs and that power cannot be
judged), there is also the practical consideration that almost all modern states
recognise international law obligations, and that most states' actions are also governed
by treaties, conventions, and other agreements.

REFERENCES
1. http://www.ijesi.org/papers/Vol(5)3/D053024028.pdf
2. https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/essay/politics-essay/state-elements-and-necessity-
of-the-state/40323

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3. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aristotle/Political-theory
4. OP Gauba, 2009 An Introduction to Political Theory. 5th ed.

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