State: Elements, Theories of Origin and Functions
What the exam tests
This domain tests the four elements of the state, the classical theories of origin, and the functions a modern state performs. A common question asks you to test whether a given political community is a state.
Core rules and concepts
- Four elements: population, territory, government and sovereignty. Sovereignty is the defining element; without it the community is not a state.
- Theories of origin: divine right (the ruler rules by God's will); force (the state arose from conquest); social contract (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau); evolutionary (the state grew from family, clan and tribe); Marxist (the state arose with private property and class conflict).
- Functions: constituent (making and amending the constitution), legislative, executive, judicial, financial, defence, welfare and regulatory.
Worked example
'Is a nomadic tribe with a chief and customary rules a state?' Reason: it has population and a governing authority, but it lacks a fixed territory and external sovereignty; customary authority is not supreme legal sovereignty. Therefore it is not a state in the strict sense. The reasoning must name each missing element.
Traps
Do not treat government as identical with state: government is one element and can change while the state continues. Do not say territory must be large. Do not mix the social contract thinkers: Hobbes justifies an absolute sovereign; Locke a limited government; Rousseau popular sovereignty. Do not omit sovereignty when listing elements.