CHAPTER three

State ,Government and society

State
State is a sovereign and autonomous political unit that
consists many communities.
 Is a political organization
Modern state is the product of four elements such as;
 -People ,Territory, Government and Sovereignty
In addition to this, legitimacy and administrative capacity
regarded as essential features of modern state.
 Understanding Government
What is Government?
 It is a body or organ that administers a country and main
organization dealing with affairs of the whole country.
 The government is one of the most essential components and
also an administrative wing of the state.
 In other words, government can also refer to political
organization comprising individuals and institutions
authorized to formulate public policies and conduct affairs of
state.
 2.2.2. Types of State

State can be classified in many types using different sets of

aspects.
 Some of these are: Size: some states are very small in their
territorial extent and population size others are large,
Socio-economic, cultural and technological factors:
 some states are highly developed in their social and
economic aspects, while others are relatively less
developed
 The way they organize their societies:
democratic states provide freedoms and rights
for citizens. Dictatorial and authoritative states
provide little freedoms for their people,
 Based on the existence and real applicability of
the rules, regulative norms and laws or
constitutions, states can be classified in to
constitutional and non-constitutional state
and
 Based on the structural arrangement, distribution
of power and sovereignty, states can be classified
into unitary, federal and Confederal.
Based on applicability of the rules, regulative
norms and laws or constitutions state could be
classified as :-
Constitutional State In constitutional state,
citizens can control their government.
Characterized by democratic practices
government exercises its power in accordance of
the rules and principles of democratic
constitution.
 It has a constitutionally limited government
 The actions of the government are limited by law.
B. Non-Constitutional State
 Citizens are not able to control the government in power
and may not have a constitution.
 Constitution is not meant for the promotion of the rights,
freedoms and interests of citizens.
 Instead, the constitution is used to keep the power of the
rulers. Such states are generally attributed by absence of
democratic principles.
. Structure of the State
Three state structures
A. Unitary State Structure
 Constitution vests all governmental powers in the
central government.
 Constitution vests all governmental powers in the
central government.
 There is centralized and concentrated power and
authority and indivisible sovereignty.
 Most countries are unitary in their structures
 The laws giving virtually all authority to the central
government.
 Governments are empowered to establish and
regulate the interrelationships of the people
within their territorial confines, the relations of
the people with community as a whole, and the
dealings of the community with other political
entities.
 Thus, government applies both to the
governments of national states, for instance the
federal government of Ethiopia and to the
governments of subdivisions of national states
such as the regional states, provinces, and
municipal governments, etc. of Ethiopia.
 Is appropriate in relatively homogenous society
(where there is no great disparity in terms of
language, culture, religion etc.)
 It is also appropriate in geographically compact
country
 Central government in Unitary State is more
powerful than the central government in federal state.
 Example, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Japan,
Scandinavian countries, Spain, Poland, France, Italy,
Japan, Kenya, Uruguay.
In Ethiopia, the reign of Emperor Hailesilassie I
and Derg were unitary structure of state.
 Based on level of centralization, state power in
the hand of central government unitary state can
be classified in to
1.Decentralized Unitary: centralization of
authority is relatively relaxed because of the will
of central government Example, UK 2.
Centralized Unitary: characterized by
devolution of some power, but with strict
supervision from the central government.
Example,France
3. Strictly Centralized Unitary: central
government of the state interfere, in the internal
affairs to the extent it control the spirits of the
society, economic, social and all other aspect of
life. Example: totalitarian states and so on. B.
Federal State Structure:-
The term "federal" came from the Latin word
"foedus", meaning "treaty" and implies the
existence of more than one set of authority.
Refers to the existence of two distinct levels/tiers of
government
 There is separation and /or division of power
between the federal government and every
constituent (federal unit) of the federation.
There is shared rule and self rule.
Neither the federal government nor regional
governments have the right to take away power
and authority constitutionally belonging to the
other.
 Characterized non-centralization of power.
Regions (constituent) have autonomous powers
in their own specified affairs and area of
governance.
 Three types of power
 Concurrent power are jointly exercised by the
federal and regional states .
Exclusive power- powers that are exclusively
exercised by the federal government

 Residual power- Left for state (regional government)

Federalism is viable for heterogeneous society and
geographically wide states.
Viable alternative in conflict prone multi ethnic
society
 Federalism is viable for heterogeneous society and
geographically wide states.
 Example: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India,
Nigeria, the United States of America and Republic of
South Africa are federal states.
The Major Ways of Creating Federal State
1. Coming-together Federations ( federalism
through Aggregation)
Is federalism in which independent states come
together by abandoning or pooling sovereign powers
in certain domains and form a common political
union.
 Interests may include security or economic
prosperity of the states.
 USA, Australia, Switzerland, etc. federalism were
formed through such mechanisms.
2. Holding-together Federalism (federalism by
disaggregation) .
 Federalism which developed from unitary form of
states in response to alleviate threats of secession
 States such as India, Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia,
Nigeria etc. are some of the countries categorized in
the holding-together federations.
 C. Confederal State Structure:
 State structure in which sovereign nations by
constitutional compact create a central government
but carefully limit the power of central government.
 Does not give it the power to regulate the conduct of
individual states directly.
Formed for common advantage without affecting or
putting pressure upon internal structure, freedom,
law making and applying, foreign relations of the
states confederated.
 Confederation is loose federation because it gives less
power to the central government.
 Example: European Union (EU) and the British
Commonwealth, Trade unions, common military defenses
(NATO vs. Warsaw Pact), Arab League, etc.
 2nd classification of Government according to the
relationship between the executive and legislative. Based
on this three gov’ts .
 parliamentary, 2. presidential, 3. hybrid systems. 1.
1. Parliamentary system of Government Government
governs in and through the assembly or parliament
 System of government, which vests the political
leadership in a legislative body (parliament) which
in turn selects the executive body.
The prime minister is the head of government and
commander in chief of armed forces.
He/she is the executive chief of the council of
ministers
 He/she is the executive chief of the council of
ministers
The president in the parliamentary system is head of
state and has ceremonial power.
2. Presidential system
 Characterized by constutitional and political
Separation of powers between the legislative and
executive branch of government.
 Based on the strict application of the doctrine of the
separation of powers.
 President is both Head of State and Head of
government.
 He/she is directly elected by people for a fixed time
to serve and cannot serve more than twice.
 Parliament/assembly and executive are formally
independent from one another and separately elected.
 There is doctrine of the separation of powers of the three organs of
government.
 3. Hybrid system (Semi-presidential) Is the mixture of parliamentarian and
presidential government.
 Have a Prime minister and an elected legislative that can both enact and implement policies.
 Also have a president (selected for a fixed term and having some independent executive
power) who, can act with decisiveness.
 Some hybrids are more like parliamentary systems that the president has limited
power and most power is exercised by the prime minister and the cabinet.
 For the approval of the formulated policies and
regulations, the sign of both president and the prime
minister is needed
 Some hybrids are more like parliamentary systems
that the president has limited power and most power
is exercised by the prime minister and the cabinet.
 For the approval of the formulated policies and
regulations, the sign of both president and the prime
minister is needed
 Today France is practicing hybrid governance system.
 Finland also practiced semi-presidential with a slight
difference from France
 Government has Two essential attributes:
Authority: In politics, the word authority implies
the ability to compel obedience.
 It can simply be defined as ‘legitimate power.’
While power is the ability to influence the
behavior of others, authority is the right to do so.
 Authority is therefore, based on an
acknowledged duty to obey rather than on any
form of coercion or manipulation.

Legitimacy: The term legitimacy (from the Latin
word legitimare, meaning ‘to declare lawful’)
broadly means rightfulness.
Purposes and Functions of Government
Self-Preservation: Nearly all governments at
least claim to have as their purposes the
establishment of an order that permits
predictability, which in turn promotes a sense
of security among the governed.
The primary purpose and function, governments
are responsible to prevail order, predictability,
internal security, and external defense.
Distribution and Regulation of Resources: All
governments invariably play the role of distributing
resources in their societies.
In addition, governments are the only institutions that
determine whether resources are going to be controlled by
the public or private sector.
Management of Conflicts: Governments usually develop
and consolidate institutions and procedures for the
management of conflicts.
These may include the legislative, executive, and judicial
institutions with established procedures for the
supervision and resolution of conflicts that may arise in
the society.
 Fulfillment of Social or Group Aspirations:

To fulfill the goals and interests of the society as a whole and of

various groups within the society.

These aspirations may include the promotion of human rights,

common good, and international peace.

Protection of Rights of Citizens: Some governments, especially

those of constitutional and democratic governments, are
established for the protection of every citizen’s human,
democratic, political, social, economic and cultural rights.
Constitutional and democratic governments are
created to serve and protect every citizen’s rights,
not to dominate them.
Protection of Property: States or governments
provide means such as police and the court
systems that protect private and public propertAs
such, protection of private and public property is,
therefore, one among the major purposes and
functions of any government.