Define state and explain its essential elements
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The State is a human institution. Hence population is it’s first and foremost element. No state can be imagined without the people, as there must be some to rule and others to be ruled. The people constitute its "personal basis".
It is however, difficult to fix the size of the population of a state. For the Greek Philosopher Plato, the ideal state should not contain more than 5040 people. But Rousseau the French Philosopher would treat 10,000 inhabitants as the ideal population.
Modern states greatly vary in population. While some modern states (e.g. the USA, Russia and Canada) are still under populated relating to area, resources and similar factors, others (e.g., China, India, Egypt) are confronted by the problem of population which is expanding too rapidly for their natural and technological resources. There is no such hard and first rule as to the number of people required to make a state. The population of a state must be large enough to preserve the political independence and to exploit its natural resources and small enough to be well governed.
But it is the kind of people that matters more than their numbers. What kind of people comprises a particular state? Are they literate, well educated, culturally advanced? Aristotle rightly has said that a good citizen makes a good state. So what is important is the quality of people, their character, their culture and their sense of belonging to the state.
It is however, difficult to fix the size of the population of a state. For the Greek Philosopher Plato, the ideal state should not contain more than 5040 people. But Rousseau the French Philosopher would treat 10,000 inhabitants as the ideal population.
Modern states greatly vary in population. While some modern states (e.g. the USA, Russia and Canada) are still under populated relating to area, resources and similar factors, others (e.g., China, India, Egypt) are confronted by the problem of population which is expanding too rapidly for their natural and technological resources. There is no such hard and first rule as to the number of people required to make a state. The population of a state must be large enough to preserve the political independence and to exploit its natural resources and small enough to be well governed.
But it is the kind of people that matters more than their numbers. What kind of people comprises a particular state? Are they literate, well educated, culturally advanced? Aristotle rightly has said that a good citizen makes a good state. So what is important is the quality of people, their character, their culture and their sense of belonging to the state.
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