Physicist and astronomer Stefan Feeney of University College London, one of the...
State - central institute authorities, political system society. It organizes political world, political life. Within the framework of the state, through the use of mechanisms, structures, institutions of political power, there is a concentrated, direct implementation of policy.
The state includes a system of political administration - the government, which in turn consists of specific bodies and persons holding official positions and exercising political power on behalf of the state. The state acts as an institution that collectively limits individual interests and ensures controlled and managed freedom. It stands guard over the collective interests and is designed to protect society from possible abuse of power, chaos and unrest.
The modern state acts simultaneously as an arena political struggle and as its goal, the main bet. The state idea, which is the basis of each specific manifestation of the state, is a complex of formalized, dogmatized norms of politics and law, rules, attitudes, socio-cultural values, traditions and prejudices. It concentrates all the richness and variety of ordered ideas about best ways socio-political management.
The main features of the state can be defined as follows-
1. Power is separated from civil society, there is a professional layer of managers - the bureaucracy.
2. The state has sovereignty, i.e. is the sole and universal holder of power in a certain territory.
3. The state has a monopoly on the use of force in all forms.
4 The state has the exclusive right to make laws binding on all residents of its territory
The state performs a variety of functions that currently concern many areas of public life. The modern state is no longer a "night watchman" of property, but often the largest owner and economic regulator, acting through tax, pricing, investment, licensing and other types of policies. It fulfills social functions, subsidizes health care, education, culture, pursues an active demographic policy. The modern state forms new type socially oriented power, is moving in the direction of the so-called " welfare state»
The state ensures the protection and security of its citizens in the most diverse areas of social life. One of its new functions, which have appeared in recent decades, has become the function of providing environmental safety. It is implemented through the system of environmental legislation.
The state represents the people in the international arena, being the subject international relations. It implements interstate contacts and communications, international trade establishes diplomatic relations, wages war and makes peace.
The implementation of the internal and external functions of the state is provided by a system of bodies and institutions, which are called the "mechanism of the state". The central element of the mechanism of the state is the state body. It officially represents the state, has the competence inherent in its tasks, is organized in a special order formulated in the legislation, and has a special structure. In modern political science, there are four types of state bodies:
1) organs legislature;
2) executive authorities;
3) judicial authorities;
4) control and supervisory bodies.
The central institution of the political system is the state. The main content of politics is concentrated in its activity. The term "state" itself is usually used in two senses. V broad sense the state is understood as a community of people represented and organized by a body supreme power and living in a particular area. It is identical with the country and the politically organized people. In this sense, they speak, for example, of the Russian, American, German state, meaning the entire society they represent.
Until about the 17th century. the state was usually interpreted broadly and was not separated from society. Many specific terms were used to designate the state: “polity”, “principality”, “kingdom”, “empire”, “republic”, “despotism”, “rule”, etc. Machiavelli was one of the first to depart from the tradition of the broad meaning of the state. He introduced the special term "stati" to denote any supreme power over a person, whether it be a monarchy or a republic, and began to study the real organization of the state.
A clear distinction between the state and society was substantiated in the contractual (contractual) theories of the state by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and other representatives of liberalism. In them, these concepts are separated not only in content, but also historically, since it is argued that individuals who originally existed in a free and unorganized state, as a result of economic and other interaction, first formed a society, and then, in order to protect their security and natural rights, they created a special body by contract - state. V modern science the state in the narrow sense is understood as an organization, a system of institutions that have supreme power in a certain territory. It exists along with other political organizations: parties, trade unions, etc.
The states of different historical epochs and peoples have little in common with each other. And yet they have some features that are more or less inherent in each of them, although in modern states subject to integration processes, they are sometimes quite blurred. Common to the state are the following features:
1. Separation of public authority from society, its mismatch with the organization of the entire population, the emergence of a layer of professional managers. This feature distinguishes the state from a tribal organization based on the principles of self-government.
2. The territory delineating the boundaries of the state. The laws and powers of the state apply to people living in a certain territory. It itself is built not on consanguineous or religious grounds, but on the basis of the territorial and, usually, ethnic community of people.
3. Sovereignty, i.e. supreme power in a certain area. In any modern society there are many authorities: family, industrial, party, etc. But the state has the highest power, the decisions of which are binding on all citizens, organizations and institutions. Only he has the right to issue laws and regulations binding on the entire population.
4. Monopoly on the legal use of force, physical coercion. The range of state coercion extends from the restriction of freedom to the physical destruction of a person. The ability to deprive citizens of the highest values, which are life and freedom, determines the special effectiveness of state power. To perform the functions of coercion, the state has special means(weapons, prisons, etc.), as well as bodies - the army, police, security services, courts, prosecutors.
5. The right to collect taxes and fees from the population. Taxes are necessary for the maintenance of numerous employees and for the material support of state policy: defense, economic, social, etc.
6. Mandatory membership in the state. In contrast, for example, to such a political organization as a party, membership in which is voluntary and not mandatory for the population, a person receives state citizenship from the moment of birth.
7. Claim to represent society as a whole and protect the common interest and common good. No other organization, except perhaps the totalitarian party-states, claims to represent and protect all citizens and does not have the necessary means for this.
Definition common features state has not only scientific, but also practical political significance, especially for international law. The state is the subject of international relations. Only on the basis of possessing the qualities of the state, certain organizations are recognized as subjects of international law and endowed with appropriate rights and obligations. In modern international law, three minimum signs of a state are distinguished: territory, people united by a legal union of citizens (citizenship), and sovereign power exercising effective control over at least the majority of the territory and population.
The features noted above distinguish the state from other organizations and associations, but do not yet reveal its connection with society, the factors underlying its emergence and evolution.
The state appears as a result of the decomposition of the tribal system, the gradual isolation from society of leaders and their entourage and the concentration of managerial functions, power resources and social privileges in them under the influence of a number of factors, the most important of which are:
The development of the social division of labor, the allocation of managerial labor in order to increase its efficiency in a special industry and the formation of this special body - the state;
Emergence in the course of development of production of private property, classes and exploitation (Marxism). Without denying the influence of these factors, most modern scholars still do not link the existence of the state directly with the emergence of private property and classes. In some countries, his education historically preceded and contributed to the class stratification of society. In the course of historical development, as class antagonisms are erased and society is democratized, the state becomes more and more a supra-class, national organization;
The conquest of some peoples by others (F. Oppenheimer, L. Gumplovich and others). The influence of the conquests on the education and development of the state is undoubted. However, it should not be absolutized, losing sight of other, often more important factors;
Demographic factors, changes in the reproduction of the human race itself. This refers primarily to the growth in the number and density of the population, the transition of peoples from a nomadic to a settled way of life, as well as the prohibition of incest and the regulation of marriage relations between clans. All this increased the need for communities to regulate the relationships of ethnically close people;
Psychological (rational and emotional) factors. Some authors (Hobbes) consider fear of aggression from other people, fear for life and property as the strongest motive that prompts a person to create a state. Others (Locke) put in the forefront the mind of people, which led them to an agreement on the creation of a special body - the state, which is better able to ensure the rights of people than traditional forms of community life.
The contractual theories of the state are supported by some real facts. So, for example, a contractual system of reigning existed in Ancient Novgorod, where an agreement was concluded with a prince invited for a certain period, the failure to comply with which could lead to his exile. Under the direct influence of the "social contract" theory, the American state, the United States, was created. And yet, despite these and some other historical facts, the real state arose not as a result of the voluntary transfer to individuals of part of their rights to a body specially created to protect citizens and society, but in the course of a long natural-historical development of society;
anthropological factors. They mean that the state form of organization is rooted in the very social nature of man, its development. Even Aristotle argued that man, as a highly collective being, can exist only within the framework of certain forms of community life. The state, like the family and the village, "is a natural form of community life." It arises as a result of the development of human nature and, with the help of law, introduces fair, moral principles into people's lives. Aristotle's ideas use modern natural-historical concepts of the state, which consider it as a form of community life organically inherent in humanity at a certain stage of development, without which society is doomed to degradation and decay. Some supporters of the anthropological explanation of the essence of the state argue that it is based not only on the social nature of man, but also on his innate imperfection, which manifests itself in the impossibility of individual existence, as well as in aggressiveness and conflict.
V scientific literature some other factors are noted that influence the formation of states and their features: geographical location, the presence or absence of natural borders, climatic conditions, fertile lands, etc. Numerous studies have shown that the state arises and develops under the influence of a number of factors, among which it is hardly possible to single out any one as defining.
Existing for many millennia, the state changes along with the development of the whole society, of which it is a part. From the point of view of the peculiarities of the relationship between the state and the individual, the embodiment of rationality, the principles of freedom and human rights in the state structure, two global stages can be distinguished in the development of the state: traditional and constitutional, as well as intermediate stages that bizarrely combine the features of traditional and constitutional states, such as totalitarian statehood.
Traditional states arose and existed mainly spontaneously, on the basis of customs and norms, rooted in antiquity. They had institutionally unlimited power over their subjects, denied the equality of all people, did not recognize the individual as a source of state power. Monarchies were a typical embodiment of such a state. Some authors, taking into account the profound differences between constitutional and unconstitutional states, suggest, in accordance with the ancient tradition that distinguishes between the state and despotism, to call the state only “an organization of public power derived from civil society and somehow controlled by it.” Although this interpretation does not take into account different types states and is not shared by the majority of scientists, it reasonably points to the fundamental boundary that separates modern constitutional states from states, according to the type of their structure and functioning associated with the past.
The constitutional state is an object of conscious human formation, management and regulation. It does not seek to cover with its regulatory influence all manifestations of human life - its economic, cultural, religious and political activity and is limited only to the performance of functions delegated by citizens and not violating the freedom of the individual.
In general, the constitutional stage in the development of the state is associated with its subordination to society and citizens, with the legal outline of the powers and scope of state intervention, with the legal regulation of the activities of the state and the creation of institutional and other guarantees of human rights. In a word, it is connected with the appearance of the constitution.
The term "constitution" in science is used in two senses. The first of these, often referred to as the "real constitution", goes back to Aristotle, who in his famous "Politics" interpreted the constitution as "a certain order for the inhabitants of one state." In other words, the real constitution is political system, a stable model of state activity, determined by one or another value-normative code. This code does not necessarily take the form of a set of laws inherent in modern states. It may have the character of religious-political commandments or unwritten age-old traditions to which the current laws of the state are subject. Understood in this sense, constitutionalism is rooted in the distant past and is not associated only with the appearance of liberal constitutions in the Enlightenment.
In the second, most common sense, the term "constitution" is a set of laws, a legal or normative act. It is a system of relatively stable rules (laws) fixed in a special document (or several documents) that determine the foundations, goals and structure of the state, the principles of its organization and functioning, methods of political will formation and decision-making, as well as the position of the individual in the state.
The Constitution acts as a text of a “social contract” concluded between citizens and the state and regulating its activities. It gives the state of a modern, constitutional type the necessary legitimacy. Usually adopted with the consent of the overwhelming (qualified) majority of the population, it fixes that minimum of social consent, without which a free joint life of people in a single state is impossible and which all citizens are obliged to respect.
Constitutions, as a rule, consist of two major parts. The first defines the norms of relations between citizens and the state, the rights of the individual, affirms the legal equality of all citizens; the second part describes the nature of the state (republic, monarchy, federation, etc.), the status of various authorities, the rules for the relationship between the parliament, the president, the government and the court, as well as the structure and functioning of the governing bodies.
The first constitutions were adopted in 1789 in the United States (in 1791, the Bill of Rights) and in France (in 1789, the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” and in 1791, the constitution), although a number of legal documents that actually have the character of constitutional acts, appeared even earlier - in 1215, 1628, 1679, 1689. in England. V modern world only a few states (Great Britain, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bhutan and Oman) do not have constitutional codes of law.
The presence of a democratic constitution is an indicator of the genuine constitutionality of the state only if it is really embodied in state organization and strictly enforced by authorities, institutions and citizens. The completion of the process of formation of a constitutional state, the consolidation of the principle of limiting its competencies with the help of special institutions and laws emanating from the people, characterizes the concept of "rule of law".
1. The concept of the state and its nature.
1.1. Factors that determine the emergence of the state.
1.2. State signs.
1.3. State functions.
2. Forms of government and territorial structure of the state.
2.1. Forms of government. Monarchies. Republic.
2.2. State-territorial structure. unitary state. federal state. Confederation.
1. The central institution of the political system is the state, since the main content of politics is concentrated in its activities. The term "state" is used in two senses. In a broad sense, the state is a country, society, people located on a certain territory and represented by a supreme authority. Niccolo Machiavelli introduced the special term "stato" into literary circulation to designate the state, regardless of its specific forms as a special political organization of society. In the narrow own meaning the term "state" is an organization that has supreme power in a certain territory.
1.1. The state appears as a result of the decomposition of the tribal system, the gradual isolation from society of the stratum of leaders and their entourage and the concentration in them managerial functions and social privileges under the influence of a number of the following factors:
1) the development of the social division of labor, the allocation of managerial labor in order to increase its efficiency in a special branch;
2) emergence of private property, classes and exploitation (Marxist approach);
3) the conquest of some peoples by others (F. Oppenheimer, L. Gumplovich);
4) demographic factors (growth in numbers, population density, the transition of peoples from a nomadic to a settled way of life, a ban on incest);
5) psychological factors (the state is considered as a fruit of the human mind, ripened under the influence of certain needs and emotions);
6) anthropological factors ( state form organization is rooted in the very social nature of man);
7) geographical factors (natural boundaries, landscape, waterways);
8) environmental factors(climatic conditions, soil fertility);
9) external factors(threat of attack, war, experience of other countries).
Numerous studies of the state have shown that it arises and develops under the influence of a number of factors, among which it is hardly possible to single out any one as decisive.
1.2. The main features of the state:
separation of public authorities from society and the allocation of a layer of professional managers;
sovereignty, that is, the supreme power in a certain territory. The supreme power, the decisions of which are obligatory for all, belongs only to the state;
The territory that is delineated by the boundaries of the state. The laws and powers of the state apply to all people living in a given territory;
monopoly on the legal use of force and physical coercion. The range of state coercion - from the restriction of freedom to the physical destruction of a person (since 1999 in Ukraine the death penalty prohibited);
the exclusive right to publish laws and regulations binding on the entire population;
The right to collect taxes and fees from the population.
The above features of the state distinguish it from other organizations and numerous associations.
1.3. State functions. Most general classification functions of the state is their division into internal and external.
Internal:
· consolidation of society on the basis of common interests of citizens;
Adoption, improvement, implementation of mandatory laws for all;
the necessary regulation of the economy and economic activity society;
protection and strengthening of the existing political system;
Ensuring general order, public safety, maintaining the discipline of citizens;
regulation social relations, ensuring social security of citizens;
spiritual and ideological, educational activities, the formation political consciousness citizens.
protection of state interests in the international arena, ensuring the defense of the country;
· development of mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries and international organizations;
participation in the decision global problems humanity, in integration processes and peacekeeping actions.
2. The structure of the state is characterized by its forms. They embody the organization of the supreme power, the structure and order of relations between the highest state bodies, officials, and citizens.
In the forms of the state, forms of government and forms of territorial structure are traditionally distinguished.
2.1. Forms of government.
According to the method of organizing power and its source, states are divided into monarchies and republics.
Monarchy. The source of power is one person. The head of state receives his post by inheritance, regardless of voters and representative bodies of power. There are several types of monarchical form of government:
1) absolute monarchy- omnipotence of the head of state (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman);
2) constitutional monarchy - the powers of the monarch are limited by the constitution and parliament. 2 varieties:
dualistic monarchy, in which the monarch is endowed with predominantly executive power and only partially legislative power (Jordan, Morocco);
a parliamentary monarchy, in which the monarch, although considered the head of state, actually has representative functions and only partially executive power.
The vast majority of modern democratic monarchies are parliamentary monarchies. The government in them is formed by a parliamentary majority and is accountable to parliament, not to the monarch. For example, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, etc. Modern parliamentary monarchies, paying tribute to political tradition and thereby maintaining the respect of citizens for the state, actually differ little from republics - the second main form of government.
Republic. The source of power is the popular majority, the highest bodies of the state are elected by citizens. In the modern world, there are 3 main types of republics: parliamentary, presidential and mixed.
The main distinguishing feature parliamentary republic is the formation of a government on a parliamentary basis and the responsibility of the government to parliament. Parliament performs a number of functions in relation to the government: it forms the government, issues laws, votes (approves) the state budget, exercises control over the government. If necessary, the parliament may express a vote of no confidence in the government. Although the head of government (prime minister or chancellor) is not officially the head of state, in reality he is the first person in the political hierarchy of the country. The president actually occupies a more modest place in this hierarchy.
chief hallmark presidential republic is that the president simultaneously acts as both the head of state and the head of government, manages the internal and foreign policy and is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (USA). The President is elected by the people. He himself appoints members of the Cabinet of Ministers, who are responsible to him, and not to Parliament. In a presidential republic, the government is stable, there is a strict separation of powers, the parliament cannot pass a vote of no confidence in the government, and the president does not have the right to dissolve the parliament. It is possible to impeach the president, but this procedure is much more difficult.
mixed republic seeks to combine strong presidential power with effective parliamentary control over the activities of the government. Her main characteristic- dual responsibility of the government to the president and to the parliament (France, Austria, Ukraine). The President and Parliament are elected independently of each other. Parliament cannot remove the president, who, in turn, has the right to dissolve parliament, but with prerequisite announcement of the date of early parliamentary elections. The president has the right of suspensive veto on parliamentary decisions. The head of state presides over government meetings, approves its decisions and thereby controls its activities (France).
2.2. under the form state structure refers to the territorial and political organization of the state, including the political and legal status of its constituent parts and principles of relations between central and regional authorities.
The territorial organization of the state characterizes the relationship of the whole and parts, central and regional authorities. There are two main forms of the territorial structure of the state: unitary and federal.
unitary the form of territorial structure is a single politically homogeneous organization, consisting of administrative-territorial units that do not have their own statehood. A unitary state has a single constitution and citizenship. All state, including the judiciary, constitute one system and operate on the basis of uniform legal norms (France, Hungary, Italy, Ukraine). Depending on the political regime unitary states can be centralized, decentralized and relatively decentralized.
Federal state - a union state, consisting of relatively independent entities, equal subjects of the federation, having their own constitutions (union republics, states, cantons, lands, etc.). It is built on the basis of the distribution of functions between its subjects and the center, fixed in the federal constitution, which can be changed with the consent of all subjects of the federation. The federation is characterized by the presence of dual citizenship and, as a rule, a bicameral parliament, one of the chambers of which represents the interests of the subjects of the federation, and the other - the national interests.
A special type of association of states is a confederation. Confederation- this is an alliance of independent states created for the implementation of specific goals (for example, for joint defense, solving economic, transport, energy and other problems). Members-participants may voluntarily withdraw from the confederation, terminating the confederal treaty. This is a rare form of organizing a political community (for example, the European Union, the CIS).
Questions and tasks to the topic:
1. What are the essential differences between the state and other political institutions: political parties, movements, etc.?
2. Expand the content of the concept of "sovereignty".
3. What functions are called upon to perform the state?
4. What is meant by the structure of the state?
5. How does a federation differ from a unitary state?
6. What was the USSR - a federation or a unitary state? Justify your answer.
1. concept, signs, theories of the emergence of state-va.
2. functions of the state.
3. forms of government.
4. form of territorial structure.
QUESTION 1. CONCEPT, SIGNS, THEORIES OF THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE
The essence of the state
The state is the main institution of the political system of society, organizing, directing and controlling the joint activities and relations of people, social groups, classes and associations. The state is the central institution of power in society and the concentrated implementation of policy by this power. V broad sense the state is understood as a community of people represented and organized by a higher authority and living in a certain territory.
From the point of view of modern ideas, the state should act as a power system that organizes society in the interests of man. And, like any system, the state must be integral: both in terms of power and organization, and in territorial terms. The state is a "shell" that preserves the integrity of a particular social community.
The term "state" began to be used in political science from about the second half of the 16th century. Until that time, such concepts as “polis”, “principality”, “kingdom”, “kingdom”, “republic”, “empire”, etc. were used to designate the state. One of the first to introduce the term “state” into scientific circulation was N. Machiavelli. He interpreted it broadly as any supreme power over a person.
In modern science, the state in narrow sense is understood as an organization, a system of institutions that have supreme power in a certain territory, is often identified with a certain ethnic group, with the administrative and managerial apparatus, with justice.
State signs
Most contemporary authors believe that state It is an organization of public power that has sovereignty, operates in a certain territory and subjugates the entire population living in this territory.
Main structural elements states are organs of legislative, executive and judicial power, protection public order and state security, the armed forces and partly the media. From the definition it is clear that the state as a subject of international law must have at least sovereignty, territory and population.
Also, the features of the state are:
1. Coercion. No one can arbitrarily make decisions about their existence outside the state, about non-subordination to state power. Belonging to the state is socially necessary, forced (“The Motherland is not chosen”) and is regulated by state and international law.
From the point of view of the latter, apatritism (statelessness) is regarded as an undesirable and abnormal phenomenon. It should be borne in mind that an arbitrary decision by the state authorities to deprive a person of citizenship is also a violation of international law, in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948.
2. The right to use violence - legitimate violence. Considered by many as key feature states. M. Weber wrote about this: “The state is that human community that within a certain area claims a monopoly of legitimate physical violence.”
It should be borne in mind that the goal of legitimate violence on the part of the state is to ensure order, to protect society and citizens from arbitrary actions of individuals (groups) that harm society and citizens.
The legitimization of violence is ensured by the fact that it can only be used:
central government;
those to whom such a right has been given;
strictly within the law;
to establish and maintain order in society.
3. Sovereignty(supreme power). Sovereignty is the independence and autonomy of the state in its internal affairs and in the conduct of foreign policy.
Thus, the concept of state sovereignty has an external and internal dimension.
From the point of view of the external dimension, sovereignty means non-interference in the affairs of the state of all other states, respect for its independence, preservation of integrity.
From the point of view of the internal dimension, sovereignty means that the state has the highest power in relation to internal subjects and is best specified by the next sign of the state - universality.
4. Universality. The state covers with its influence the people who are on its territory, including citizens of other states.
In other words, citizens of other states are obliged to obey the laws of the state in whose territory they are located.
5. Right. It is an obligatory attribute of the state. Any state operates within the established legal order. Law gives legitimation to all actions of the state, including the use of violence. The system of law determines the order and technique of the state, the procedure for regulating relations and the coexistence of citizens, organizations, institutions, etc.
The number 1 legal document in the state is the constitution, which is not accidentally called the basic law of the state.
The constitution defines:
basic principles of state activity;
the structure of the state;
organization of authorities and their powers;
the nature of the relationship between the state and society, the state and the individual.
V Russian Federation the Constitution adopted on December 12, 1993 as a result of universal suffrage is in force.
6. Public authority. Each state has an extensive system of organs and institutions of state power. The main ones include:
representative-legislative;
executive management;
judicial;
state control and prosecutor's office;
bureaucracy (administration).
The bureaucracy, understood in this case as a special layer of people specializing in government, is an obligatory phenomenon in the state. The task of society is to find ways to control the activities of the bureaucracy, to prevent it from turning into a closed caste, living at the expense of society and neglecting its obligations to the state.
7. Territory. Each state is “tied” to a certain territory, separated by borders from the territory of other states. In addition, within the internal borders of the state has a certain administrative-territorial structure.
8. The people inhabiting the territory of a given state. A historically established national or multinational community of people to which the right and political power states.
9. Taxes. Mandatory attribute of any state. Only it has the right to establish and collect taxes. Through taxes, sovereignty (the highest power) and the universality of the state are demonstrated. This is a strong way to control citizens and an indicator of the influence of the state. Taxes are used by the state:
to perform their functions, social in the first place.
10. Monetary unit. Each state has its own currency. Only it has the right to issue (release) money. This enables the state to control the economic system of society.
11. State symbols. The most important symbols of the state include the state emblem, flag, anthem. The coat of arms and the flag are the official distinctive signs of the state, the description of which is established by law. They are a symbol of the sovereignty of the state. The state emblem is depicted on flags, seals and coins. The national flag is a one-color or multi-color panel with a coat of arms or other emblems, signs. The national anthem is a solemn song (motive) glorifying a given state.
The concept of the state
The central institution of the political system is the state. The main content of politics is concentrated in its activity. The term "state" itself is usually used in two senses. In a broad sense, the state is understood as a community of people represented and organized by a higher authority and living in a certain territory. It is identical with the country and the politically organized people. In this sense, they speak, for example, of the Russian, American, German state, meaning the entire society provided by it.
Until about the 17th century, the state was usually interpreted broadly and was not separated from society. Many specific terms were used to designate the state: “polity”, “principality”, “kingdom”, “rule” and others. Machiavelli was one of the first to depart from the traditions of the broad meaning of the state. A clear distinction between the state and society was justified in the contractual theories of the state by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and other representatives of liberalism. In modern science, the state in a narrow sense is understood as an organization, a system of institutions with supreme power over a certain territory. It exists along with other political organizations: parties, trade unions, etc.
Common to the state are the following features:
1. Separation of public authority from society, its mismatch with the organization of the entire population, the emergence of a layer of professional managers.
2. The territory delineating the boundaries of the state. The laws and powers of the state apply to people living in a certain territory. It itself is built not on consanguineous or religious grounds, but on the basis of the territorial and, usually, ethnic community of people.
3. Sovereignty, i.e. supreme power in a certain area. In any modern society there are many authorities: family, industrial, party, etc.
4. Monopoly on the legal use of force, physical coercion. The ability to deprive citizens of the highest values, which are life and freedom, determines the special effectiveness of the state, there are special means (weapons, prisons, etc.), as well as bodies - the army, police, security services, the court, the prosecutor's office.
5. The right to collect taxes and fees from the population.
6. Mandatory membership in the state.
7. Claim to represent the whole and protect the common interest and the common good. No other organization, except perhaps the totalitarian parties - states, claims to represent and protect all citizens and does not have the necessary means for this.
The definition of common features of the state has not only scientific, but also practical political significance, especially for international law. The state is the subject of international relations.
