What is State?

What is the Origin Of

State?

Dr. M. Jashim Uddin

NSU
 What is the State?

Introduction:
 What’s the key focus of Political Science?

 Significance of the state lies in the definition of Political

science. “Politics” rooted in the term “Polis” (City-state); Athens

 Functions of state;

 linking individuals to groups and organizations, and established

balance;
 Providing security to individuals and safeguards their rights.

 Debate on Human Security Vs National Security in

contemporary world
 Definitions of State
 Aristotle defined, “The State is a union of families and
villages having for its end a perfect and self-sufficient life by
which we mean a happy and honorouble life.”

 According to Prof Laski, “the modern state is a territorial

society divided into government and subjects, claiming within
it’s allotted physical area, supremacy over all other
institutions.”
 Definitions of State
 Bluntschli argued that the state is politically organized people
of a definite territory.

 Roskin and others define, “A state is government structure,

usually sovereign and powerful enough to enforce its writ.”

 So, it can be said that state is a political organization which

has a legal government, territory, population and sovereign
power.
 Origin of the State
 Four theories about the origin of the state:
 Secrets related to origin of the state

 State was created by the social contract

 State developed like a living organism (natural theory)

 State was created by force

 Origin of the State
Devine Theory

 The oldest theory; state is a divine institution. God created

state for the common welfare.

 This notion prevailed in the ancient oriental empires where

the rulers regarded themselves as the descendants of Gods.

 Propagated that either God or his representative has the right

over people. e.g., Theologian St Augustine’s City of God
 Devine Theory
 Clash between popes and the holy Roman empire over
supremacy of power in Middle age.

 The Protestant Reformation strengthened the claims of the

national monarchs.
 Devine Theory
The Authority derived from God

God God

Pope
King

King
 Devine Theory
 People’s sovereignty vs Royal Absolutism
 The theory of “the divine rights of the kings” faced challenge
when the rising middle classes began to advance the doctrine
of popular sovereignty; e.g., the revolution in 17th and 18th
centuries in Europe; French revolution democracy

 Nevertheless, the supporters of the divine theory considers:

 Protesting against king is a sin; a bad king will be judged
by God, not by his subjects
 Devine Theory
 Criticism of the divine theory:
 The theory is against democracy and blindly supports
Absolutism.
 The state is not a divine institution but a political institution,
and cannot be applicable to the modern state.
 Social Contract Theory
 Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau
contributed to the Social Contract theory from 16th century to
18th century. The theory contributed to the popular revolution
in England, French and the US.
 The theory argues ” State is the creation of social contract
entered by the people to leave the state of nature and create
state deliberately.”
 Man had originally created the state by means of social
contract to which each individual had consented.
 This theory shows the relationship between those who govern
and who are governed;
 Social Contract Theory
 Hobbes argument: Man surrendered his natural rights of self-
government to an absolute sovereign (either king or
parliament), although he preferred monarchy.
 Lockean notion: He described an agreement under which man

retained almost all his natural rights under a limited

parliamentary type of government responsible to the people.
 However, Rousseau strongly argued for the popular sovereign.

 Unlike both Hobbes and Locke, he insisted on the right of all

people to participate in the government affairs .

 Social Contract Theory
 Rousseau argued that political authority was not legitimate
unless it was exercised directly by the people.
 Regarding the relationship between legitimate authority and
political representation, Rousseau argued that legitimate
political authority originates in the social contract between
citizens and government.
 If a government act is contrary to the original social contract,
citizens are entitled to resist or even revel.
 Rousseau’s social contract theory remains fundamental to the
principles of democratic government.
 Natural Theory
 Aristotle declared that “man is by nature a political animal”
Man outside of the state was not a man at all, but either God
or beast; Man could fulfill himself only through the state.
 It is the basic nature which prompted primitive people in
living together in groups.
 The growth of state was not possible in the absence of
political consciousness. Political consciousness means an
awareness among people of common purposes and ends to be
realized through political organization.
 Natural Theory
 This political/social character was supplemented by kinship or
blood relationship. Blood relationship was the most important
bond of union among the primitive people.

 Religion had played a vital role in the process of building of

the state. Religions gave unity to the people both in the
primitive and middle ages;
 What’s the role of religion in today’s world?
 Natural Theory
 This natural theory was carried further in later ages by the
impact of historical or scientific research.

 Some considered the state as almost a living organism,

evolving into higher and better form.

 The English ‘idealist’ school of thought tried to revive the

Aristotle-lian idea that state was natural and it was a force for
progress towards the good life rather than an evil.

 The implication of this view was conservative: What exists

must exist for a good reason, or otherwise it would not exist.
 Natural Theory
 Unlike the notions of social contract, the natural theory does
not guarantee the citizens to participate in those political
decisions which effect their lives and living condition.

 The individual’s rights are those which are prescribed by the

state and long-standing tradition of society.
 Force Theory
 According to the Force theory, state was originated in
conquest and coercion. State was evil; the strong had imposed
their will upon the weak; e.g., the early Christians so regarded
the Roman regime.
 “War begat the king,” Political thinkers, e.g., Hume and
Oppenheim are the exponents of force theory.

 In the later part of the nineteenth century, a school of thought

arose in Germany argued that force was the most important
feature of the state. That “might made right” and that power
was its own justification. Hence, physically powerful peoples
were the best people.
 Force Theory
 In ancient time, a strong man with the supports of his people
dominated the weaker people of his tribe and established the
command and obedience. This was the beginning of the state.
 A strong tribe dominated the weaker ones and in this way a
kingdom came into being.
 With the passage of time, a strong king subjugated the weaker
ones and created an empire.
 Force Theory
 Criticism of force theory
 Force alone did not create the state although it is true that
without force the state could not be established. Only force
can’t be the basis of the state as it will not last for long.
 The real and lasting basis of the state is not the brutish force
but the moral force.
 Green argued that ‘not Force but Will of the people is the basis
of the state.’
Different Types of State
 Effective State; Japan, the US

 Weak State: Bangladesh?

 Failed State: Afghanistan, Iraq