The 5 most important elements of the State

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

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

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The Elements of the State, Explained

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

Although 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 coincide in what is a mode of political and social organization in which a sovereign subject is created (a group capable of making decisions about what is done in a certain territory) and norms are established that allow the social division of labor.

This division of labor consists of a system by which specializing in a profession allows access to a support network created by other people working in other fields. In this way, the State supposes the definitive departure from the way of life of hunter-gatherers, 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 groups. Therefore, the state elements are different facets of this extended social group capable of involve thousands of individuals (something that does not happen with the other main system of social organization: the family).

Given this, let's briefly review what the elements of the state are like, and what characterizes them.

1. Territory

the territory is the prior, fundamental and most necessary condition for the appearance of the State. We must not forget that the 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 marketed. Therefore, its sphere of influence can be located on a map.

In addition, the territory is what allows the settlement of a population to exist; evidently, without people there is no social organization either (at least not one that is human).

Being able to accommodate many people in a stable manner, on the other hand, means that the State can provide an environment in which it is possible to make deals and close deals in a relatively safe manner, and also gives rise to a phenomenon linked to the appearance of states: the appearance of private property.

And it is that if the territory is one of the elements of the State it is also because it allows to generate consensus about which parcels of territory are owned by whom.

Once certain individuals or families come to dominate some pieces of land and the resources in it, they can negotiate with them, offering the possibility of buying them or working on them in exchange for something, and in that way shape other products are emerging that can become private property.

2. Population

As we have seen, the population is also an essential element for states to exist. In addition, it is necessary that this be relatively numerous, because otherwise you will hardly have possibility of creating a framework of trade, allocation of private property and political influence or military.

When there are many people living in a territory, not only does the possibility of specializing appear in a very specific profession and ally with other compatriots who act as a support network social. Besides, cultural dynamics are generated that unite these groups: Common habits and customs, languages ​​or ways of speaking, shared symbols, similar value systems, etc. emerge.

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

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

On the other hand, Do not confuse the concept of population with that of citizens. Normally, by citizens we mean 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 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 are concentrated. about 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 tend to emerge of 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 all. The main division between these government bodies is specified in the separation of powers proposed by Montesquieu and still claimed today: executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch.

Ensuring the independence of these three types of powers fundamentally serves to ensure that everyone submits to the rules of coexistence in the same way, without being able to create ad hoc exceptions to keep an elite out of the reach of the law.

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4. Sovereignty

sovereignty is consensus about who decides what over what territory. It is, in short, the supreme power from which all others emanate, and for this reason it is related to the notion of authority. By exercising sovereignty, decisions are made about what should be done within the limits territorial and diplomatic functions of a State, and sometimes, in war contexts, also outside these.

This is one of the most abstract elements of the State and with the greatest capacity to generate debate and controversy, because defining who should be the sovereign subject can lead to very different conclusions through very different reasoning. various.

For thousands of years, in most societies it was assumed that the boss was fundamentally 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, it has been evolving towards a type of political organization in which the sovereign subject is the population, although not directly, but through systems of representative democracy and the holding of elections to elect certain political representatives who offer to work 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 (for example, "Italians") by another of a more local scope (for example, "Sicilians").

5. Coercion

Coercion is the set of institutions and collective powers with the ability to forcefully subdue groups that oppose the state and its operation (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 offenses and crimes will have their The corresponding punishment exerts its influence always, even in the imagination, the creation of expectations and the decision making of the people.

And it is that although the moral authority can 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 attacks on a large scale (invasions and other wars) and on a small scale (terrorism, assassinations, robberies, etc.).

For thinkers like Thomas Hobbes, coercion is the fundamental characteristic of the State., which is described as a protection resource against the fear of being a victim of violence from other individuals. According to this point of view, the possibility of coming together to join forces and be able to face the dangers that others represent causes many people to give up much of their capacity for action in order to alleviate that fear, even if it costs 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 create a stable environment in which one class can exploit others without jeopardizing the status quo defined by the very existence of the classes (associated with inequality) and the unfair allocation of private property over the means of production (machines, factories, etc.). In this way, under an appearance of harmony and peace, an unfair social organization model would be hidden in which there are clear losers.

In any case, it must not be forgotten that even in the most admired states and those considered to be of the highest democratic quality, there are always government instances with the ability 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 entire system of obligations and warnings is part of coercive power, and has an effect on the way people and groups behave, for better or worse.

Bibliographic references:

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• Marx, K. and Engels, F. (2011). The communist manifesto. Madrid: Publishing Alliance.