What is State?
The term
state has different meaning in constitutional law, than that in the international
law. Under international law. state means a territory occupied by the society
of man where the members of society are governed by the government, and such
government has capacity to enter into relations with other entities An entity
possessing above attributes can be termed as a state. Montevideo Convention on
the Rights of Duties of States, 1993, laid down certain qualifications for an
entity to be called as a state.
Accordingly,
a state should possess following qualifications –
1) A
permanent population
2) A defined
territory
3) A
government
4) Capacity
to enter into relations with other states.
Thus, as
per Montevideo Convention, if an entity possesses all the above four
attributes, it can be called as a state.
1)
Permanent population:
The term
'population' means, people. People are those individuals who live together as a
community. The people may belong to different races, creeds or cultures. They
may be also of different colours. The population must be permanent i.e. the
people must be linked to a specific territory on a permanent basis, i.e. who
can be said to be inhabitants of that territory. A territory in which the
population exist in a haphazard way is not the state. The state should have a
permanent population.
2) A
defined territory
An entity
to be called as a state. it must have a defined territory. The size of a
territory does not matter. A Territory can be either small or large. Even
though Montevideo Convention laid down that the territory should be a defined
territory. Defined territory does not mean that, the territory of the state
must be certain. At present there is a dispute between the numbers of states
over the extent of the border of their state, but they are still defined as
states. For example, Israel does not have a fixed territory, but it is still
called the state. The term 'population' means, people. People are those
individuals who live together as a community. The people may belong to
different races, creeds or cultures. They may be also of different colours. The
population must be permanent i.e. the people must be linked to a specific
territory on a permanent basis, i.e. who can be said to be inhabitants of that
territory. A territory in which the population exist in a haphazard way is not
the state. The state should have a permanent population.
3)
Government
The entity
having population and territory, must be governed by a government. The state
should have a8overnment. If the state does not have a government, it shall not
be called as a state. All the activities of state are carried out by the
government. It is not necessary that the government should be an effective
government. Government can be of the following types
a) De-jure
government;
b) De-facto
government;
c) Military
government; and
d)
Government in exile. Thus, a state should have government.
4) Capacity
to enter into relations with other States
In order to
be called as the state under international law, an entity must have the
capacity to enter into relations with other states. If the state is not capable
of entering into relations with other states, then it shall not be called as a
state.
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