Which one of the following best defines the term ‘State’?

1. A community of persons permanently occupying a definite territory independent of external control and possessing an organized government
2. A politically organized people of a definite territory and possessing an authority to govern them, maintain law and order, protect their natural rights and safeguard their means of sustenance
3. A number of persons who have been living in a definite territory for a very long time with their own culture, tradition and government
4. A society permanently living in a definite territory with a central authority, an executive responsible to the central authority and an independent judiciary

Explanation

Option (a) is correct

• The term ‘State’ is central to the study of Political Science. But it is wrongly used as a synonym for nation, society, government, etc. The term ‘state’ is also used in State management, State aid and so on. Also, as the States of the Indian Union or the fifty States that make up the United States of America. But in Political Science, we use this term differently; it has a more specific meaning. In Simple terms, ‘State’ refers to a political institution that represents a sovereign people who occupy a definite territory.
• Some of the definitions of the concept of State are as follows:
  • “The State is the politically organised people of a definite territory”-Bluntschli
  • State is “a community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently occupying a definite portion of territory, independent, or nearly so, of external control, and possessing an organised government to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience.”–Garner
  • State “is a people organised for law within a definite territory”.–Woodrow Wilson
  • “The State is a concept of political science, and a moral reality which exists where a number of people, living on a definite territory, are unified under a government which in internal matters is the organ of expressing their sovereignty, and in external matters is independent of other governments.”–Gilchrist

Answer: (a) A community of persons permanently occupying a definite territory independent of external control and possessing an organized government; Difficulty Level: Medium