1. topic 3
The State

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StateState
definition
elementsfunction
Introduction

3. introduction
A state is an organization
Simple mean a country or constituent
unit
A synonym for nation, society
government etc.
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definition
Woodrow Wilson: “A state is a people
organized for law within a definite
territory”.
Max Weber (1970): “human community
that (successfully) claims the monopoly
of the legitimate use of physical
violence in a given territory”.

5. Robert Dahl (1961): “State as a
collection of individuals occupying role
positions (those of governing authority)
and acting as a group to govern”.
Bluntschli: “The State is the politically
organized people of a definite territory”
Harold Laski: “a territorial society
divided into Government and subjects
claiming, within its allots physical area,
a supremacy over all other institutions”.

6. According to J. H. Price (1975), note
the four essential elements contained
or implied in these definitions: -
i) A definite territory,
ii) A government organized to achieve
the purposes for which the state
was set up,
iii) A system of laws, and
iv) A body of men and women having a
common purpose

7. element
According to some scholars, these
attributes are at best a model or “ideal
type” to which few states actually
correspond. No state possesses all
four of these attributes, and some
recently formed states in the world lack
several of them. The four elements are:
i) Population
ii) Territory
iii) Government
iv) Sovereignty

8. Population
Population and land
population must be large enough to
make a state and sustain it
Two conclusions;
i) the State is a human institution, the
product of man’s gregarious nature
and the result of necessities of
human’s life and
ii) population and land are the starting
point of any study of man in his
organized groups.

9. Territory
There can be NO State without a fixed
territory
territory that normally creates our
membership of a State – citizenship
Land, water and airspace within the
defined territorial area comprise the
territory of the State

10. Government
Government - medium that common
policies are determined, common
affairs are regulated and common
interests promoted.
Government refers to social
organization that has authority to rule
the state.

11. Sovereignty
Sovereignty refers to the fount of
authority in society
The doctrine of sovereignty asserts that
the state is the supreme decision-
making power within a geographically
delineated frontier and is subject to
external authority only by its consent.
Belongs to the body which has the right
to make laws for a country.

12. Two aspects:
i) Internal sovereignty - the right of
state to make laws applying within
its boundaries (cannot be shared
with any other state)
ii) External sovereignty - the
recognition in international law that a
state has jurisdiction (authority) over
a territory.

13. functions of the state
Soltau (as cited by Kapur, 1984)
mentioned the function of state is to
give opportunities for the people's
development and capabilities in
managing their life.
According to Laski (1931), the function
of the state is to create one situation
that can achieve a maximum desire.

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Generally, main function – to achieve
political stability
Other function:
i) The implementation of laws and
regulations
ii) Establishing prosperity and stability
of people
iii) Maintaining peace and stability,
away from being threatened from
external and internal forces
iv) The implementation of justice and
human rights.

15. the crises of nation building
Leonard Binder et. Al (1971), some
social scientists argue that the process
of constructing nations – if the process
is to be successful – requires that
countries go through the same 5
stages in approximately. Namely;
i) Identity
ii) Legitimacy
iii) Penetration
iv) Participation
v) Distribution

16. Identity
The ‘identity crisis’ – people who
previously identified with a tribe, region,
or other subnational group must com to
think of themselves as first foremost
citizens of the nation.
Example; Yugoslavia – never
established a national identity for its
Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Bosnians,
Macedonians and others.
Malay Vs. Malaysia

17. Legitimacy
A government must cultivate the
respect and willing obedience of its
citizens, the widespread feeling among
the people that the regime’s rule is
rightful.
Ultimately, as in the case of
Yugoslavia, NO LEGITIMACT = NO
NATION

18. Penetration
Related to both identity and legitimacy
The ‘crisis of penetration’ means that
the nation must get substantially all the
population, even in out lying or
culturally distinct regions, to obey the
government’s writ.
Lack of penetration – government can
have a law on its books.

19. Participation
As people become more aware that
they are being governed they demand
to have a say in their governance.
Regimes are often fearful of the
consequences of expanding voting
rights.
The best way to solve the participation
crisis is through slow and incremental
step – Britain with a series of Reform
Act.

20. Distribution
Classic question of “who get what”
Economic rewards of the nations are
unfairly apportioned
Welfare benefits
The distribution question in never
settled, however, because the poorer
sectors of society always want more
welfare, whereas the better-off, argue
that the welfare state has gotten out of
hand, taxes are too high and benefits
too generous.

21. Example; The conservatives win
elections – as Margaret Thatcher did in
Britain in 1979 and Ronald Reagan in
US in 1980 – they try to cut welfare
programs.

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