Wednesday 11 December 2013

DISCUSS VIVIDLY AND CLEARLY DISTINGUISH BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND THE STATE



MEANING OF A STATE
            A state is a community of persons more or less numerous, permanently occupying a definite portion of territory, independent of external control, and possessing an organized government to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience. According to Max Weber, a state can be seen as a human community that claims the monopoly of legitimate use of the physical force within a giving territory this is done to distinguish it from other definition. The state is therefore is seen as a form of association with spherical characteristics, and is charged with the responsibility of maintaining those condition of life for which the state came into existence.  States vary in shapes and sizes, cultures, forms of government, natural resources, language, etc. However, all states possess four elements: a) people, b) territory, c) government, and d) sovereignty. The absence of any of these elements will not make a state a state.
         POPULATION: People are the inhabitants of the state. It is the entire body of citizens of the state who are vested with political power for political purposes. There is no specific number of people required in order for a state to be considered as one. However, it is important that the number must be numerous enough to be self-sufficient and to defend themselves and small enough to be administered. To date, the smallest state in terms of population is Vatican City with 826 citizens, who are mostly clerics and some Swiss guards. On the other hand, China is the largest state with 1.3 billion populations. The Philippines is also fast growing state with 97,976,603 populations.
          TERRITORY: Territory is a fixed area or surface of the earth where the inhabitants of a state live and where they maintain a government of their own. There are three components of territory: a) the land mass otherwise known as the terrestrial domain, b) the internal and external waters, which make up the maritime and fluvial domain; and c) the air space above the land and waters, which is called the aerial domain. For the sake of practicality, a territory must neither be too big as to be difficult to administer and defend nor too small as to be unable to provide for the needs of the population. The smallest state is Vatican City. It spreads across 0.17 square miles or .43 square kilometer. It would actually fit in Rizal Park in Manila. The biggest state is Russia with its total land area of 6,592.735 square miles.
         GOVERNMENT: Government is the institution or aggregate of institutions by which an independent society makes and carries out those rules of action which are necessary to enable men to live in a social state, or which are imposed upon the people forming that society by those who possess the power or authority of prescribing them. (Bernas, 2007). Simply, it refers to the agency through which the will of the state is formulated, expressed and implemented. Government is different from administration although these two terms are often used interchangeably. Government refers to the institution while administration is the body of men running the government.
         SOVEREGNTY: Sovereignty is referred to as the supreme, absolute and uncontrollable power by which any state is governed. It has two manifestations: a) internal, which is the power of the State to rule within its territory; and b) external, which is the freedom of the State to carry out its activities without subjection to or control by other States. This is often called as independence.
MEANING OF GOVERNMENT
Government is a group of people that governs a community or unit. It sets and administers public policy and exercises executive, political and sovereign power through customs, institutions, and laws within a state. It is also an organization exerting centralized control over a community. Government has to do with the act of governing, the exercise of authority, the administration of laws and the direction and the direction of the affairs of a state. Government is organised into various structures and developed institution through which it operates.
            Quoting from prof. J. Isawa Elaigiwu and Habu Galadima in their work “system of government (1994:1)” defined government as the institution that has been entrusted with the responsibility of making rules and regulation for peace and order in the state, and also enforcing them, providing security and welfare and managing the day to day affairs of the country on behalf of the state. They went further to say that for any government to function properly like a human system they must have branches. These are the legislature (which make the laws), the executive (which enforces the laws) and the judiciary (which interprets the laws and adjudicates).  According to him government is that agency of the ruling class which is charge with the responsibility of exercising state power on behalf of the ruling class. In the course of its existence and the exercise of its functions, the government is organized into certain structures and develops various institutions through which its members operate. The existence of these institutions implies that government also develops rules, expectation, values and ethics on the basis of which it carries out its function or activities.
DISTINCTION BETWEEN STATE AND GOVERNMENT
            Government is one element of the state. It is the agency through which laws are made, enforced and those who violate laws (law offenders) are punished. It is the visible manifestation of state authority. It consists of all the persons, institutions and agencies through which the will of the state is expressed and carried out. A state is an organized political community occupying a certain territory. A government on the contrary is an organization that has the power to make and enforce laws for a definite territory. The word ‘govern’ has the meaning of ‘power to administrate’. Though the state speaks through the government, it is proper to differentiate between the two.
         The state has authority inherent in itself whereas the government has no inherent powers. The government gets its structure, authority and power from the Constitution of the State.
         The state is a larger entity that includes all the citizens while government is relatively a smaller unit that includes only those who are employed to perform its functions. We are all citizens of the state, but we are all not functionaries of the government. John Garner a onetime vice president of the United State writes that “government is an essential organ or agency of the state but it’s no more than a state itself than the board of directors of a corporation is itself to the corporation.”
         The idea of state is quite abstract. The government is the concretization of the idea of the state. We see the government, not the state.
         The state is a near permanent institution; this because the state does not die unless it is attacked and made a part of the other state. The government is temporary; it is so because it may change today’s rulers may not be tomorrow’s rulers. To put it the other way, the state may be the same everywhere whereas; the government may vary from one state to another. India, the United States, Nigeria, Great Britain and France for example, are all states. But the governments which work in these states may not be of the same type. In India and Great Britain there is a parliamentary government, whereas in the Nigeria, United States of America there is presidential government.
         The sovereign powers lay with the state; it is the state that is sovereign. The government only exercises its power. The government’s powers are delegated and derivative; the state’s powers are real and origin.
         The opposition to the state is different from the opposition of the government. We criticize the government but we can never condemn the state. The criticism of the state is a revolt but the criticism of the government is not a rebellion. We would never hear from an Indian that India is bad; but we usually hear that the policies of the Indian Government headed by a political party or a multitude of political parties are bad. It is a crime to condemn one’s state; it is a duty, in fact it is a right to criticize one’s government.
         The government is merely an element of the state. Government is one part of the state. It is a part of the whole (the state). As a part, the government is not greater than the whole. When we talk of the state, we talk of the population, the definite territory, the government and sovereignty. But when we talk of the government, we talk of one part, one element of the state.
         The state’s territory is always definite. It remains unchanged. Its boundaries remain where they are. The government’s territory is never permanent. Ibrahim babangida move our capital from Lagos to Abuja. The British governments had also changed their capitals to London during the World War II, fearing the German attack.
CONCLUSION
            Having discussed the meaning of the state and government, we can see that the state and government are not the same, though the government does everything on behalf of the state and is also an organ of the state. The government are a state agency which make laws, enforce them and punishes those who violate those laws.
REFRENCES
W. F. WILLOUGHBY (1996). THE GOVERNMENT OF MORDERN STATE. APPLETON CENTURY.
GARWAL. R (2000). THE POLITICAL THEORY. NEW DELHI: S CHAND & COMPANY LTD.
KUKAH ,M.H (1999). DEMOCRACY, STATE AND THE CIVIL SOCIETY. NIGERIA: SPECTRUM BOOKS LTD
















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