Elements of State:

A State stands identified with its four absolutely essential elements:

1. Population:

State is a community of persons. It is a human political institution. Without a population there can be no
State. Population can be more or less but it has to be there. There are States with very small populations
like Switzerland, Canada and others, and there are States like China, India and others, with very large
populations.

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The people living in the State are the citizens of the State. They enjoy rights and freedom as citizens as
well as perform several duties towards the State. When citizens of another State are living in the
territory of the State, they are called aliens. All the persons, citizens as well as aliens, who are living in
the territory of the State are duty bound to obey the state laws and policies. The State exercises supreme
authority over them through its government.

There is no definite limit for the size of population essential for a State. However, it is recognised that the
population should be neither too large nor very small. It has to be within a reasonable limit. It should be
determined on the basis of the size of the territory of the State, the available resources, the standard of
living expected and needs of defence, production of goods and supplies. India has a very large and fast
growing population and there is every need to check population growth. It is essential for enhancing the
ability of India to register a high level of sustainable development.

2. Territory:

Territory is the second essential element of the State. State is a territorial unit. Definite territory is its
essential component. A State cannot exist in the air or at sea. It is essentially a territorial State. The size
of the territory of a State can be big or small; nevertheless it has to be a definite, well-marked portion of
territory.

States like Russia, Canada, U.S.A., India, China, Brazil and some others are large sized states whereas
Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldivies, Switzerland, Togo, Brundi and many others are States with small
territories. The whole territory of the state is under the sovereignty or supreme power of the State. All
persons, organisations, associations, institutions and places located within its territory are under the
sovereign jurisdiction of the State.
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Further, it must be noted that the territory of the state includes not only the land but also, rivers, lakes,
canals inland seas if any, a portion of coastal sea—territorial waters or maritime belt, continental shelf,
mountains, hills and all other land features along with the air space above the territory.

The territory of the state can also include some islands located in the sea. For example Anadaman &
Nicobar and Daman and Diu are parts of India. State exercises sovereignty over all parts of its territory.
Ships of the State are its floating parts and Aero-planes are its flying parts. Even a States can lease out its
territory to another State e.g. India has given on lease the Teen Bigha corridor to Bangladesh.

3. Government:

Government is the organisation or machinery or agency or magistracy of the State which makes,
implements, enforces and adjudicates the laws of the state. Government is the third essential element of
the State. The state exercises its sovereign power through its government.

This sometimes creates the impression that there is no difference between the State and Government.
However it must be clearly noted that government is just one element of the State. It is the agent or the
working agency of the State. Sovereignty belongs to the State; the government only uses it on behalf of
the State.

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Each government has three organs:

(1) Legislature—which formulates the will of State i.e. performs law-making functions;

(2) Executive— enforces and implements the laws i.e. performs the law-application functions; and

(3) Judiciary—which applies the laws to specific cases and settles the disputes i.e. performs adjudication
functions.

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Government as a whole is the instrument through which the sovereign power of the State gets used.
In ancient times, the King used to perform all functions of the government and all powers of governance
stood centralized in his hands. Gradually, however, the powers of King got decentralized and these came
to be exercised by these three organs of the government: Legislature, Executive and Judiciary.

Each of these three organs of the government carries out its assigned functions. Independence of
Judiciary is also a settled rule. The relationship between the Legislature and Executive is defined by law
and it corresponds to the adopted form of government. In a Parliamentary form of government, like the
one which is working in India and Britain, the legislature and executive are closely related and the latter
is collectively responsible before the former.

In the Presidential form, as is in operation in the U.S.A., the legislature and executive are two
independent and separate organs with stable and fixed tenures, and the executive is not responsible to
legislature. It is directly responsible to the people.

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Government is an essential element of State. However it keeps on changing after regular intervals.
Further, Government can be of any form—Monarchy or Aristocracy or Dictatorship or Democracy. It can
be either Parliamentary or Presidential or both. It can be Unitary or Federal or of mixture of these two in
its organisation and working. In contemporary times every civilized State has a democratic
representative, responsible transparent and accountable government.

4. Sovereignty:

Sovereignty is the most exclusive element of State. State alone posses sovereignty. Without sovereignty
no state can exit. Some institutions can have the first three elements (Population Territory and
Government) but not sovereignty.

State has the exclusive title and prerogative to exercise supreme power over all its people and territory.
In fact, Sovereignty is the basis on which the State regulates all aspects of the life of the people living in
its territory.

As the supreme power of the State, Sovereignty has two dimensions:

Internal Sovereignty and External Sovereignty.

(i) Internal Sovereignty:

It means the power of the State to order and regulate the activities of all the people, groups and
institutions which are at work within its territory. All these institutions always act in accordance with the
laws of the State. The State can punish them for every violation of any of its laws.
(ii) External Sovereignty:

It means complete independence of the State from external control. It also means the full freedom of
the State to participate in the activities of the community of nations. Each state has the sovereign power
to formulate and act on the basis of its independent foreign policy.

We can define external sovereignty of the State as its sovereign equality with every other state. State
voluntarily accepts rules of international law. These cannot be forced upon the State. India is free to sign
or not to sign any treaty with any other state. No state can force it to do so.

No State can really become a State without sovereignty. India became a State in 1947 when it got
independence and sovereignty. After her independence, India got the power to exercise both internal
and external Sovereignty. Sovereignty permanently, exclusively and absolutely belongs to the State. End
of sovereignty means end of the State. That is why sovereignty is accepted as the exclusive property and
hallmark of the State.

These are the four essential elements of a State. A State comes to be a state only when it has all these
elements. Out of these four elements, Sovereignty stands accepted as the most important and exclusive
element of the State.

No other organisation or institution can claim sovereignty. An institution can have population, territory
and government but not sovereignty. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Punjab, Sikkim, in fact all
states of the Indian Union have their populations, territories and governments.

These are also loosely called states. Yet these are not really states. These are integral parts of the Indian
State. Sovereignty belongs to India. Sikkim was a state before it joined India in 1975. Now it is one of the
28 states of India. UNO is not a state and so is the case of the Commonwealth of Nations, because these
do not possess sovereignty. SAARC is not a state. It is only a regional association of sovereign states of
South Asia.