Lecture materials
THE CONCEPT AND MAIN FEATURES OF THE STATE
State is the political organization of a society providing its unity and integrity; it’s implemented by the state mechanism, the management of society businesses, sovereign public authotity that gives the universal compulsory to the law, guaranteeing rights, freedoms of citizens and legality a legal order.
A state can be distinguished from a government. The government is the particular group of people, the administrative bureaucracy; which controls the state apparatus at a given time. Those governments are the means through which state power is employed. States are served by a continuous succession of different governments. States are immaterial and non-physical social objects, whereas governments are groups of people with certain coercive powers.
States can also be distinguished from the concept of «nation», which refers to a large geographical area and people who perceives themselves as having a common identity.
The state is not the only organization that exercises power in society. There are political parties, professional youth, sports, etc. organization, but unlike any other politically organized society, the state has a number of features.
The
main features
of
the state
Financial
System
National
Language
Territory
Army
System
of
state bodies
Legal
system
Population
State
sovereignty
Block diagram 1-1. The main features of the state
Form of the state
Form of the state is integrated political and legal characteristic of the state power that is the unity of its three main elements: form of the government, form of state structure and political (state and legal) regime.
Form of the state |
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Form of government is |
Form of state structure is |
Political (state and legal) regime is |
The element of the form of state that characterizes the organization of supreme state power, order of the formation of its organs and their interrelation with the population. |
The element of the state form that characterizes the internal national and territorial organization of state power, division of the state territory to the parts, their legal state, interrelations between the state as a whole and its structural parts. |
A set of political structures that make up the state. These political systems range from direct democracies to totalitarian regimes, such as military dictatorships. Common forms of state government in the modern world include democratic form of government, and antidemocratic government. |
Figure 1-1. Form of the state
Form of government |
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Monarchy is the form of state governance at which the supreme power in a country is (fully or partially) in the hands of a sole head of a state. Peculiarities of monarch status are sole, inherited and life-long character of belonged to him/her power. |
Republic is the form of governance at which the supreme organs of state power are elected by the population or formed by special representative institutions for a particular term. |
Absolute monarchy exists when the monarch has no or few legal limitations in political matters. The Monarch is both the Head of the State and Head of the Government; his/her power is not limited by a constitution or by the law. Current Absolute Monarchies are Bahrain, Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Swaziland. |
A presidential republic is a republican system of government where a head of the government is also head of the state and he manages an executive branch that is separated from the legislative branch. This leads to the separate election of president, who is elected to office for a fixed term. The president usually has special privileges in the enactment of legislation, namely the possession of a power of veto over legislation of bills, in some cases subject to the power of the legislature by weighted majority to override the veto. Presidential republics include Ghana, Chile, Cyprus, Ecuador, etc. |
Constitutional monarchies, which are more common, exist when the monarch retains a distinctive legal and ceremonial role but exercises limited or no political power. The Monarch is the Head of the State but not Head of Government, his/her power is limited by a constitution. Current Constitutional monarchies include the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Spain, Monaco, Thailand, Japan, Jordan and Morocco. |
A parliamentary republic is a type of republic. The parliamentary republic is characterized by declaration of a principle of leadership of parliament before which the government bears political responsibility for the activity. Formality - presence of a post of the prime minister. The head of the state in parliamentary republic, as a rule, is selected parliamentary by, i.e. either parliament, or the special board created on the basis of parliament. The president is formally allocated with considerable powers, but in practice does not render almost any influence on government realization. Any action of the president, including dissolution of parliament and the veto can be carried out only with the consent of the government. Parliamentary republics include Albania, Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Germany Greece, Iceland, etc. |
Emirate is similar to a monarchy or sultanate; it is a system of governance in which the supreme power is in the hands of an emir (the ruler of a Muslim state); the emir may be an absolute overlord or a sovereign with constitutionally limited authority. |
The semi-presidential republic is a system of government in which a popularly elected fixed term president exists long with the a prime minister and Cabinet who are responsible to the legislature of a state. It differs from a parliamentary republic in that it has a popularly elected head of state who is more than a purely ceremonial figurehead, and from the presidential system in that the cabinet, although named by the president, is responsible to the legislature, which may force the cabinet to resign through a motion of no confidence. Semi-presidential republics include Algeria, Armenia, Egypt, Madagascar, Haiti and etc. |
Elective monarchy is a system of governance that has an elected monarch, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The democratic manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, and the electors vary from case to case. |
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Figure 1-2. Form of government
Form of state structure
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Unitary (integral, simple, unified) State is |
Federation State is |
Confederation |
The form of state structure at which all or the most parts of the state are the order administrative territorial units. There are no any state formations that have political independence within the structure of this state. Features of this state are unified constitution; common (unified) citizenship; unified system of central organs of the state power; unified judicial and legal system. Unitary states are Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Kazakhstan, France, etc. |
Form of state structure that is the complex (union) state consisting of state formations (subjects or members of federation) that have particular political independence. In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, are typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of either party, the states or the federal political body. Federal republics are Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Germany, Ethiopia, India, etc. |
A confederation, in modern political terms, is usually limited to a permanent union of sovereign states for common action in relation to other states. The closest entity in the world to a confederation at this time is the European Union. |
Figure 1-3. Form of state structure
A Political (state and legal) regime
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Democratic regime |
Antidemocratic regime |
Democracy is the political regime based on the proclamation of people’s power, electiveness of the organs and providing of extensive rights and freedoms to citizens. |
Antidemocratic is a person, place, or thing which is unfriendly or against the ideas and actions of democracy such as the power of the people to elect their leaders through majority rules and free elections. |
Liberal democracy is a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principles of liberalism. It is characterized by fair, free, and competitive elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into different branches of government, the rule of law in everyday life as part of an open society, and the protection of human rights and civil liberties for all persons. To define the system in practice, liberal democracies often draw upon a constitution, either formally written or unmodified, to delineate the powers of government and enshrine the social contract. |
Fascism rule by leader base only. Focuses heavily on patriotism and national identity. The leader(s) has the power to make things illegal that do not relate to nationalism, or increase belief in national pride. They believe their nation is based on commitment to an organic national community where its citizens are united together as one people through a national identity. It exalts nation and race above the individual and stands for severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. |
Social democracy is where in the people or citizens of a country elect representatives to create and implement public policy in place of active participation by the people. |
Authoritarian rule by authoritarian governments is identified in societies where a specific set of people possess the authority of the state in a republic or union. It is a political system controlled by unelected rulers who usually permit some degree of individual freedom. |
Direct democracy is government in which the people represent themselves and vote directly for new laws and public policy |
Totalitarian rule by a totalitarian government is characterized by a highly centralized and coercive authority that regulates nearly every aspect of public and private life. |
Figure 1-3. Form of state structure