Greek thinkers like Plato and Aristotle thinking on the number was based on small city - states like Athens and Sparta. Rousseauĭetermined 10,000 to be an ideal number for a state. It should be large enough to be self - sufficing and small enough to be well governed. According to Plato the ideal number would be 5040.Īccording to Aristotle, the number should be neither too large nor too small. Greek thinkers were of the view that the population should neither be too big nor too small. Laski defines 'state as a territorial society divided into government and subjects whose relationships are determined by the exercise of supreme coercive power.'įrom the above definitions, it is clear that the following are the elements of the state :. To Holland, the state is 'a numerous assemblage of human beings generally occupying a certain territory amongst whom the will of the majority or class is made to privail against any of their number who oppose it.'īurgess defines the state as 'a particular portion of mankind According to Sidgwick. 'State is a combination or association of persons in the form of government and governed and united together into a politically organized people of a definite territory.'Īccording to Garner, 'State is a community of people occupying a definite form of territory free of external control and possessing an organized government to which people show habitual obedience.' To Woodrow Wilson, 'State is a people organized for law within a definite territory.'Īristotle defined the state as a 'union of families and villages having for its end a perfect and self - sufficing life by which it meant a happy and honourable life'. Though the state is a necessary institution, no two writers agree on its definition. The aims, desires and aspirations of human beings are translated into action through the state. It continues to remain for the sake of good life. It is necessary because it comes into existence out of the basic needs of life. The state is the highest form of human association. His important work is titled as 'Prince'. It was Niccolo Machiavelli ( 1469 - 1527) who first used the term 'state' in his writings. The modern term 'state' is derived from the word 'status'. To him, to live in the state and to be a man were indentical. Aristotle said man is a social animal and by nature he is a political being. The state is the most universal and most powerful of all social institutions.
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