State is the central idea of study of Political Science.

Dr. Garner aptly said that “Political Science begins and ends with the state”.

Origin and growth of political science goes hand and han d with the origin and growth of the state.

Origin the term state:

• The Greeks used the term ‘polis’ for city-states.
• Later Romans used the term ‘civitas’ for their states, citizens and their welfare.
• The present word state has its origins in the Latin word ‘status’. The word status was used in its original meaning that is as condition by Cicero.
• Machiavelli was the first political thinker to use the Italian word ‘lo stato‘ meaning the state in the political sense of the term.
• Quentin Skinner in his book ‘The Foundations of Modern Political Thought’ (1978) made this attribution to Machiavelli.
• Both the Latin word status and English word state meant condition or station even before acquiring the political usage and meaning of the term state.

What is a state?

Meaning:

According to Aristotle, Man cannot live alone, so families came into existence. However, families could not fulfill the needs of a man, so group of families formed into villages and union of villages formed into a society. Even a society had problems of maintaining law and order, for which, a government was required. And with the formation of a government a state came into existence acquiring the sovereign powers.

Man → Family → Villages → Society → (+ Government )→ State.

Therefore, state is the highest form of organised human life.

It is a political entity. It is called association of all associations.

It is generally equated with a country or the federal units of a federal country.

However, country is a geographical term, while state is a political term.

• India is a country according to Geography.
• India is a state according to Political Science.
• India is a Union of states according to Indian Constitution. India has 28 states, which are federal units or provinces, but cannot be called as states in terms of Political Science.

Similarly, USA is a country in terms of Geography and a state in terms of polity. It has 51 states. But these 51 states are only federal units or provinces. They are not states according to Political Science.

Though UN is United Nations, the members are called as ‘member states’.

Let us now view how state is a unique entity. It is the only human association that has the sovereign power. Sovereignty is the distinguishing attribute of the state. It helps us to understand, if any political entity is a state or not.

Here it is important to know the essential elements of a state.

Essential Elements of a State:

These are:

• Population
• Territory
• Government
• Sovereignty
• International recognition

Type of Modern States

There are dictatorial states, where the head of power is the dictator.

• The people live by and for the dictator.
• He is the ultimate head of state.
• He wields a fist of iron - like control over his people and his subjects.
• He usually upholds a single ideology, usually borne out of his own thinking.

There are constitutional monarchies, where the head of power is the king or queen.

• Here, the king or queen wields all the power.
• Usually the role is hereditary in nature, as in a dynasty.
• Modern “constitutional monarchies” are de jure heads of the state.
• They play no major role in most modern states, e.g, Queen Elizabeth II in the UK.

There are anarchies, where no one is in power.

• People here have rejected all authority
• They are free to do as they wish
• This condition of state is highly hypothetical, and only happened in Venezuela.
• Economic condition is bound to be poor ( see. Rising inflation in Venezuela ).

There are military states, which have a general, backed by his army.

• Most common in post - revolution/government overthrown scenarios.
• The general wields power backed by his army.
• People live in fear, under the might of militancy, threatened by firearms.
• It is likely to have a poor economic condition too.

There are democracies, where the people are in power.

• Although a government is in place. general elections are taken for every decision made.
• Every citizen is equal, in the sense that, aged over 18. they are allowed to vote.
• In this way, the people are empowered and get a say in everything.
• Although there may be, say 49% vote for one thing, and 51% vote for the other, the majority always wins. Chances of 50% and 50% are very unlikely, and the chances of that decrease, the higher the population.

All other states are a combination of the above features, and maybe, one or two added features. Let’s take the example below.

The socialist state, tries to bring equality, or reduced class-based differences.·

• Collective ownership, all means of production are owned by the community, i.e., government, and no individual can hold private property beyond certain limit. Therefore, it is government who utilises these resources in the interest of social welfare.
• ·Economic, social and political equality. Under socialism, there is almost equality between rich and poor. There is no problem of class struggle.
• Economic planning. Under socialism, government fixes certain objectives. In order to achieve these objectives, government adopts economic planning. All types of decisions regarding the central problems of an economy are taken in the economic plans. There is a Central Planning Authority, who plans for the economy.
• Work and wages according to ability and needs. In socialistic economy, work is according to ability and wage according to need. It is said that under socialism “from each according to his ability to each according to his needs, is socialism.”

As we can see above the second point is a link back to a democracy. The third point is a link back to a dictatorial - type state/monarchist state. In most situations, the monarch or dictator appointed a Central Planning Authority. The third point adheres to those states with a capitalistic economy. But, what stands out about a Socialist state is the point below;

• Maximum social welfare. The sole objective of socialism is the maximum social welfare of the society. It means that there is no scope of exploitation of labour class. The government keeps a close eye on the needs of the poor masses while formulating plans.

One shall not find this in many states, especially those with a Capitalistic economy, and especially hypothetical anarchist states, where the “top dog” mind set prevails.

One last important point to note is that although states can be distinguished with the points I have mentioned above, the type of economy prevailing in the state also plays a major role, and these can be of three major types, namely:

• Market or capitalistic economy, where price mechanism is key, and cut-throat competition is every present.
• Mixed economy, which combines government planning with private firm ownership and some price mechanisms in specific markets.
• Planned economy, which is collective ownership of all firms, organisations and resources. The government decides all, based on the say of the masses, in Marxist terms, the “democratic ‘dictatorship’ of the proletariat”.