The 5 most important elements of the State

A State is made up of several parts and elements that allow its complex functioning.

The elements of the State are those institutions and entities that allow the territorial organization to function, maintaining a certain harmony and stability between collectives and social classes. maintaining a certain harmony and stability among collectives and social classes.

In this article we will see what the elements of the State consist of, which fundamentally are the government, the population, coercion, territory and sovereignty, and the role that each of these parts plays in the course of the civil, political and economic life of the countries.

• Related article, "What is Political Psychology?"

The elements of the state, explained

To understand what the elements of the State are, first it is necessary to be clear about what a State is.

While there are many definitions for this word, as well as theories created to explain its nature and main functions, most conceptions of what a State is agree that it is a mode of political and social organization in which a sovereign subject (a collective able to make decisions (a collective capable of making decisions about what is done in a given territory) and rules are established that allow for the social division of labor.

This division of labor consists of a system whereby specializing in a profession allows one to have access to a network of support created by other people working in other fields.. In this way, the state represents the definitive departure from the hunter-gatherer way of life, in which there are not many specialized jobs and trade is very limited.

Thus, the state is the consequence of the establishment of a complex system of pacts between many different collectives. Therefore, the elements of the state are different facets of this extended social group capable of involving thousands of individuals (something that does not happen with the other main system of social organization: the family).

In view of this, let us review in brief what the elements of the state are, and what characterizes them.

Territory

Territory is the fundamental and most necessary precondition for the emergence of the state.. It should not be forgotten that states always exist linked to a material reality, because it is closely linked to the control of what resources are exploited and how they are processed and traded. Therefore, their sphere of influence can be located on a map.

Moreover, the territory is what allows the settlement of a population; obviously, without people there is no social organization either (at least, not a human one).

Being able to host many people on a stable basis, on the other hand, makes it possible for the State to provide an environment in which it is possible to enter into pacts and conclude agreements in a relatively secure manner, and it also gives rise to the emergence of a new social organization.It also gives rise to the emergence of a phenomenon linked to the emergence of states: the emergence of private property.

If territory is one of the elements of the State, it is also because it makes it possible to generate consensus about which parcels of territory are the property of whom.

Once certain individuals or families come to dominate certain plots of land and the resources on them, they can negotiate with these, offering the possibility of buying them or working on them in exchange for something, and in this way other products are emerging that can be converted into private property..

2. Population

As we have seen, population is also an indispensable element for the existence of states. Moreover, it is necessary that the population be relatively large, because otherwise there is hardly any possibility of creating a framework for trade, allocation of private property and political or military influence.

When there are many people living in a territory, there is not only the possibility of specializing in a very specific profession and allying with other compatriots who act as a social support network. In addition, cultural dynamics are generated cultural dynamics are generated that bring these collectives together.The following cultural dynamics emerge: common habits and customs, languages or ways of speaking, shared symbols, similar value systems, etc.

These kinds of anthropological and sociological phenomena act as a social glue that holds people together beyond the obligations to which the citizens of the state are bound by legal obligation. And since the sons and daughters of the inhabitants of a State are born immersed in this system of organization, they become part of it even before they realize it. In short, the population is not only an indispensable part of the State; it also allows the State to have continuity, thanks to the passage from one generation to the next.

In addition, population also has implications for a country's economic potential.. For example, if the majority of a state's inhabitants do not have the resources to live well, it will probably cost little money to employ them, and this influences the agreements that the government makes with other countries. On the other hand, if over time many foreign companies have settled in the territory of the State and the local population has been learning about the working methods and technologies of these organizations, it is possible that they will be able to generate their own companies capable of competing with those from abroad, and this will also have an impact on the social and political organization of the place.

On the other hand, the concept of population should not be confused with that of citizens.. Normally, citizens are understood as the group of people who have the rights and duties of those who can have a certain political participation in the State, while the population also includes those considered as foreigners and, in general, individuals with fewer rights than the rest.

3. Government

As we have seen, a State is a form of social organization and political organization. The government is the entity in which management and decision making is concentrated. on the latter.

There are various mechanisms by which the government can make decisions and implement them in a territory and population, but in recent centuries these usually arise from various government bodies that work in a coordinated but parallel manner, so that it is not a small group of people who have the last word in everything. The main division between these organs of government is concretized in the separation of powers proposed by Montesquieu and still claimed today: executive power, legislative power and judicial power..

Ensuring the independence of these three types of powers serves essentially to guarantee that everyone is subject to the rules of coexistence in the same way, without ad hoc exceptions being created to keep an elite out of the reach of the law.

4. Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the consensus about who decides what over what territory.. It is, in short, the supreme power from which all other powers emanate, and is therefore related to the notion of authority. In exercising sovereignty, decisions are made about what is to be done within the territorial and diplomatic boundaries of a state, and sometimes, in war contexts, outside these as well.

This is one of the most abstract elements of the State and one of the most capable of generating debate and controversy, because defining who should be the sovereign subject can lead to very different conclusions through very diverse reasoning.

For thousands of years, in most societies it was assumed that the ruler was basically a king (in tyrannies) or a group of people belonging to the elite of a society (in oligarchies).

Since the emergence of the Modern Age, however, there has been an evolution towards a type of political organization in which the sovereign subject is the population, although not in a direct manner, but rather representative democratic systems and the holding of elections to elect certain political representatives to elect certain political representatives who offer to serve in state, regional or municipal government bodies.

On the other hand, territorial conflicts between large groups or political entities are also struggles for the definition of the sovereign subject.. In secessionist movements, for example, an attempt is made to replace a sovereign subject (e.g., "Italians") with a more local subject (e.g., "Sicilians").

5. Coercion

Coercion is the set of institutions and collective powers with the capacity to subdue by force groups that oppose the State and its functioning (concretized through the constitutions and the (concretized through constitutions and other documents linked to the legal system).

This element of the State is closely related to sovereignty, because its existence gives meaning to the appearance of a sovereign subject with real authority. The effect of coercion is present even when no one violates the rules, since the certainty that crimes and offenses will have their corresponding punishment always exerts its influence, even on the imagination, the creation of expectations and the decision making of people.

Although moral authority may give certain power of influence to charismatic leaders or organizations admired by many, very few people would be willing to entrust the stability of their lives and the environment in which they live to people who do not have the capacity to maintain order and defend the State and its inhabitants from large-scale attacks (invasions and other military conflicts) and small-scale attacks (terrorism, assassinations, robberies, etc.).

For thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, coercion is the fundamental characteristic of the state.which is described as a means of protection against the fear of being a victim of the violence of other individuals. According to this point of view, the possibility of joining forces and being able to face the dangers posed by others makes many people give up much of their capacity for action in order to alleviate that fear, even if it means living conditioned by all the rules that the State creates to justify its existence.

For other philosophers such as Karl Marx or Friedrich Engels, coercion, as one of the most important elements of the State, has the function of to generate an environment of stability in which one class can exploit others without jeopardizing the status quo defined by the very existence of social classes (associated with inequality) and the unjust allocation of private property over the means of production (machines, factories, etc.). In this way, under an appearance of harmony and peace, an unjust model of social organization in which there are clear losers would be hidden.

In any case, it should not be forgotten that even in the most admired States and those considered to be of the highest democratic quality, there are always government bodies with the capacity to force people to obey the rules, or at least to prevent them from continuing to break them by limiting their freedom through penitentiary institutions. This whole system of obligations and warnings is part of coercive power, and has an effect on the way people and collectives behave, for better or worse.

Bibliographical references:

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• Cunningham, F. (2002). Theories of democracy: a critical introduction. Psychology Press. pp. 86 - 87.
• Hay, C. (2001). Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy. New York: Routledge.
• Hobbes, T. (2016). Leviathan. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
• Kuper, A. and Kuper, J. (1996). The Social Science Encyclopedia. Nueva York: Routledge.
• Lewellen, T. C. (2003). Political Anthropology: An Introduction. Santa Barbara: Praeger Publisher.
• Marx, K. y Engels, F. (2011). El manifiesto comunista. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.