STATE, NATION, AND

GLOBALIZATION

MODULE 4
 LESSONS: 1
DISTINCTION BETWEEN
THE STATE AND THE
NATION AS A POLITICAL
CONCEPT
Objectives
The learners are expected to:

1. Define nation and state; and

2. Differentiate nation from state.
 STATE
A State is a community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently
occupying a definite portion of territory, independent of external control, and
possessing an organized government to which the great body of inhabitants
render habitual obedience.

A State is composed of four elements which must all be present for a State to exist.
1. People: refers to the inhabitants or population of a particular territory.
There is no specific number required in terms of the population.
2. Territory: a definite portion of the surface of the earth which is the
subject of the jurisdiction and sovereign rights of a state in accordance with
the international law
3. Sovereignty: the supreme power to command and enforce obedience, the
power to which, legally speaking, all interests subdue and all wills subordinate
4. Government: an institution or aggregate of institutions by which an
independent society makes and carries out those rules of action necessary to enable
men to live in a social state, or that which are imposed upon the people by those
who possess the power or authority of prescribing them.
  Recognition: A community may have all the requisites for a state to exist. It
may already have its people, a territory, a government and sovereignty, however,
until it is recognized, it shall remain to be only a de facto state

The following are the theories on the origin of the State:

1. Divine Right Theory – It holds that the origin of the state is of divine creation
and the ruler is ordained by God to govern the people

2. Necessity and Force Theory – It maintains that the state must have been
created as a product of the existence of the strong and the weak in society, and as a
result of their struggle against each other wherein those who are strong are able to
dominate and impose their will upon the weak.
3. Patriarchal Theory – It attributes the origin of the states to the enlargement of
the family which remained under the authority of the father or mother.

4. Social Contract Theory – It asserts that the early states must have been
formed by deliberate and voluntary agreement among the people to form a society
and organize a government for their common good.
 5. Instinctive Theory – It holds that the state is founded out of man’s natural
instinct for association
6. Economic Theory – It believes that the state must have been founded to
take charge of man’s various needs that must be continuously and consistently
satisfied.

7. Historical Theory – It asserts that the state is product of human development

 NATION

A nation is society of inhabitants of a specific geographic region united and bound

together by a common racial ancestry, the same language and culture, historical
past, laws and a shared interests and sentiments over the passing of many years
Thank you for listening