CONCEPTS

POLITICAL SCIENCE: The systematic study of politics. It is the study of principles and conduct of political institutions. POLITICS: The study of who gets what, when and how. It is about the process by which people govern and are being governed. LEGITIMACY: Refers to the attitude of the people that the governments actions are right and therefore deserve to be obeyed. (Government) SOVEREIGNTY: The power to make laws and control a territory and the people in it. (Country/State) AUTHORITY: The ability of a ruler to win peoples obedience. (Leader) NATION: Refers to a population that exhibit homogeneity in terms of behavior, attitude and ideas and often but not always common language.

STATE: Commonly interchanged with the term country. It is composed of a population, living in a given territory, ruled by a government that exhibits and protects sovereignty and is recognized by other States.
GOVERNMENT: The people and institutions that make and enforce rules or laws for the community or State as a whole.

GOVERNANCE: The act, process or power of administering public policy and exercising sovereign authority. ADMINISTRATION: The activity of a State in the exercise of its powers and duties.

Origin of States 1. The Social Contract doctrine. People voluntarily agreed to organize themselves into one state for their general welfare. 2. The Divine Right Theory. God ordained a ruler to form a state. 3. The Necessity and Force Theory. People desire to be protected by stronger and more powerful ruler. 4. The Instinctive Theory. States were formed because of the peoples natural desire to live and stay together under a system of government. 5. The Patriarchal Theory. States grow under a father-like control and leadership.

Elements of the State 1. People. The essential factors affecting peopleas element of the states: a) Population b) Political culture c) Nationalism and Patriotism 2. Territory A state may either expand or shrink its territory through the following: a) Discovery and subjugation b) Conquest c) Accretion. Boundaries are changeable (for example because of an earthquake) d) Cession. Territories as gifts or tokens, by purchase or exchange. e) Prescription. It maybe acquired or lost over a period of time.

3. Government Classifications of government a) De facto. The existing government actually exercises powers and control but without the legal title to execute such functions. De facto proper. Control was a result of force or the voice of the majority and was taken from the legal government Independent government. Government was established by the people who rebelled against the parent state. Government of paramount force. A government established and maintaine by military force. b) De Jure. The government has the legal title but but no actual power or control.

4. Sovereignty Principles a) Auto-limitation. There may, by the consent of the state, curtailment of its power. b) Imperium. The states authority to govern include the adoption of laws to maintain peace and order and the defense of a territory from foreign invasions. c) Dominium. It involves the capacity of the state to acquire or own a territory.