2.
Territory – refers to the jurisdiction of the
Subject Teacher: MR. FERDINAND R. ESPEJO
POLITICAL POWER
In a broader sense, power is one’s ability to
achieve a desired outcome. However, in a political
term, power is the ability to influence another- the way
one thinks and behaves. Political power involves three
interrelated concepts: legitimacy, authority and
sovereignty.
According to Roskin et. al, legitimacy refers to
the people’s perception that their government rules
rightfully and thus must be obeyed. Sovereignty, on the
other hand, is the ability of a national government to be
the sole leader, which has the last word of the law in the
society. Authority is seen as a political leader’s ability to
command respect and exercise power.
Power comes in different faces or dimensions. It
can be considered as decision-making agenda setting or
thought control.
1. Power as decision-making – Power is
perceived as the influence on the content of decisions.
Who decides, what to be made and how to execute such
decision all involve power.
2. Power as Agenda Setting - Power involves the
ability to set or control political agenda highlighting one
at the exclusion of other issues.
3. Power as thought control – Power is seen as
an ideological indoctrination or a psychological control
where one has ability to change or shape how another
thinks or behaves.
STATE
In the study of political science, one of the most
important units of analysis is the state. To understand
what a state is, we should first differentiate it with some
concepts that are usually confused with it.
Nation - a group of persons belonging to one community,
having one culture and language, and living the same
experience.
It does not necessarily mean that a nation would
automatically have a territory and government. It
exclusively refers to the people.
Nation-State – The people are homogenous. This means
that the population has one culture, one language, one
experience, and one ethnicity.
This would require a population that has no
variety. This is the reason why this concept is an ideal one
because it is close to impossibility.
State - it is a community of persons, more or less
numerous, living in a specific territory, having a
government that commands obedience within the
territory and is free from external control.
ELEMEMTS OF THE STATE
1. People – Refers to the population living in a country.
This involves all citizens on the state, it even includes
the foreigners staying in the state since they are also
covered by the sovereignty of the state.
state.
THREE DOMAINS
a. Terrestrial – land
b. Fluvial – water
c. Aerial – air or sky
The determination of territory can be seen in the
UNCLOS United Convention on the Law of the Seas
• Archipelagic doctrine – This doctrine states that
an archipelago is treated as one.
The waters within the islands of the archipelago are
automatically part od its fluvial territory.
• 12 nautical mile rule
To determine the territorial sea, you have to measure 12
nautical miles from the boundary of a state. In the light of
an archipelago like the Philippines, the measurement
starts from the outermost boundary of the archipelago.
3. Government – is the agency wherein the will of the
state is manifested.
It refers to the organization in charge of the management,
administration, and governance of the people within the
jurisdiction of the state and the resources within it.
4. Sovereignty – refers to the supreme of the state.
Two Dimensions
• Internal sovereignty - supreme power of the
state to command obedience within its territory.
• External sovereignty – freedom from external
control.
Some of the scholars consider external sovereignty as the
same as independence. External sovereignty is bit
controversial today because of the current situation in the
international community. The reason is that we are
already in the era of globalization.
Globalization - the intensification of all possible
interactions for both state and non-state actors in the
international community.
Due to this global phenomenon and change, scholars
have also claimed the requirement to add another
essential element to the state – international recognition.
Globalization – the idea that a state should be
recognized by the states so that they can be called a state.
INHERENT POWER OF THE STATE
1. Power of eminent domain – the ability of the
state to acquire private property for a just
compensation and will be used for public
purposes.
When a property is owned by a private person or
corporation, but the state is interested in it, the state can
acquire it by paying the right amount of money based
upon the fair market value.
the state cannot force its sale because it will violate the
right to private property.
2. Police power – ability of the state to use its police
force to enforce peace and order.
This inherent power aims to promote the common good of
society.
 3. Power of taxation – the ability of the state to levy or evil, people cannot overthrow him because they are the
required contributions from its constituents. ones who created him. Consequently, rebelling against the
These mandatory contributions must now be used for the Leviathan would mean rebelling against themselves. The
good of society. This will be used for the delivery of social purpose of the state, according to Hobbes, is for the
services for the people. maintenance of peace and order.
The second variety comes from John Locke his work
THEORIES OF STATE FORMATION Two Treatises on Government. Just like all social
1. DIVINE RIGHT THEORY contract theorist, he started with a state of nature. In
This theory assumed that state is created by God. Thus, contrast with Hobbes, however, he views the state of
the leader is also chosen by God. nature differently. Instead of a chaotic one, he views it a
2. FORCE THEORY little more moderately. He views it as having a potential
The state is created by force – by wars and conflicts. for chaos rather than real chaos. In this light, because of
The origin of this theory can be traced back to a Greek human rationality, they would make a social contract.
philosopher named Heraclitus. He is famous for his idea Unlike Hobbes, Locke believes that the state
of the world being in constant change. He said that “no constructed is purported to protect the natural rights
one can step on the same river twice”. of people. More specifically, there are four natural rights
For Heraclitus, the world will always have conflicts and of man: right to life, right to liberty, right to property,
wars. Because of these conflicts, states are created. and right to rebel against unjust laws. For Locke, the
3. INSTINCTIVE THEORY people can rebel against a government that is not doing its
According to this theory, states are created because of duty and abuses its power because this is part of their
human instincts. Aristotle believed that man is a rational rights. Basically, this type of state that Locke constructs
being and every man has his telos or goal. The goal of man is related to democracy.
is to achieve happiness. In order for man to achieve The last variant of the social contract theory comes
happiness, he would use his rationality. From here, he from Jean Jacques Rousseau in his work The Social
would realize that he cannot achieve happiness alone. Contract. The arguments of Rousseau are a little different
Thus, he will realize the importance other people. In this as compared with the previous two. For Rousseau, the
light, he would start his interaction with other people to state of nature is not actually bad but, is a better situation
work towards their telos. than what we have today. He argues that the introduction
Analogously, this would transform man from of a society is the reason why people become evil and
being rational to becoming a social being. With these insecure. Thus, for him, the construction of a social
interactions, they would start forming groups until these contract is not exactly good. In Rousseau's words, "man
groups would become big enough and complex enough. is born free yet, everywhere he is chained." But, since the
Hence, it will reach the point of becoming a state. contract is already there, the purpose of the state is to
According to Aristotle, this is the most complex of all protect the common good.
social organizations and it will be the one that can help
man achieve its telos. Therefore, the formation of the
states comes from human instincts. This is where the
social beings will become political animals.
4. SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY
The social contract theory is based upon the idea that
states are formed through agreements among human
beings. The general idea in this theory is that there was a
time wherein there is no government - they called it the
state of nature. In this state of nature, the rights of human
beings are absolute. Hence, they can do anything they
want without any authority regulating or limiting them.
This will be the reason why people in the state of nature
will come together to create a social contract wherein
they will give up some of their rights to form the state.
Thus, this is how the state is created through an agreement
among people.
There are three variations of this theory.
The first one comes from Thomas Hobbes in his
work The Leviathan. He started with the idea of a very
violent state of He even described the life of man as short,
brutal, and nasty. Because of too much chaos, people who
are rational will think of coming up with a compromise
and have an agreement. Thus, they would create a social
contract to create The Leviathan. The Leviathan is
basically his domain. In the context of Hobbes, the
Leviathan refers to someone mythical sea monster who is
considered to be the most powerful I who has supreme
power over everyone. Hence, Hobbes is referring to the
monarch. It does not matter what the monarch does, good