Search results
People also ask
What is the meaning of State?
What does state mean in a sentence?
What is a state in politics?
What is a state in law?
The meaning of STATE is mode or condition of being. How to use state in a sentence.
- Overview
- Greek and Roman precedents
- Machiavelli and Bodin
- Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau
state, political organization of society, or the body politic, or, more narrowly, the institutions of government. The state is a form of human association distinguished from other social groups by its purpose, the establishment of order and security; its methods, the laws and their enforcement; its territory, the area of jurisdiction or geographic ...
The history of the Western state begins in ancient Greece. Plato and Aristotle wrote of the polis, or city-state, as an ideal form of association, in which the whole community’s religious, cultural, political, and economic needs could be satisfied. This city-state, characterized primarily by its self-sufficiency, was seen by Aristotle as the means ...
It was not until the 16th century that the modern concept of the state emerged, in the writings of Niccolò Machiavelli (Italy) and Jean Bodin (France), as the centralizing force whereby stability might be regained. In The Prince, Machiavelli gave prime importance to the durability of government, sweeping aside all moral considerations and focusing ...
For Locke and Rousseau, as well as for Locke’s English predecessor Thomas Hobbes, the state reflected the nature of the human beings who created it. The “natural condition” of man, said Hobbes, is self-seeking and competitive. Man subjects himself to the rule of the state as the only means of self-preservation whereby he can escape the brutish cycle of mutual destruction that is otherwise the result of his contact with others.
For Locke, the human condition is not so gloomy, but the state again springs from the need for protection—in this case, of inherent rights. Locke said that the state is the social contract by which individuals agree not to infringe on each other’s “natural rights” to life, liberty, and property, in exchange for which each man secures his own “sphere of liberty.”
Rousseau’s ideas reflect an attitude far more positive in respect of human nature than either Hobbes or Locke. Rather than the right of a monarch to rule, Rousseau proposed that the state owed its authority to the general will of the governed. For him, the nation itself is sovereign, and the law is none other than the will of the people as a whole. Influenced by Plato, Rousseau recognized the state as the environment for the moral development of humanity. Man, though corrupted by his civilization, remained basically good and therefore capable of assuming the moral position of aiming at the general welfare. Because the result of aiming at individual purposes is disagreement, a healthy (noncorrupting) state can exist only when the common good is recognized as the goal.
Students save 67%! Learn more about our special academic rate today.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
STATE meaning: 1. a condition or way of being that exists at a particular time: 2. the present situation: 3. a…. Learn more.
State definition: the condition of a person or thing, as with respect to circumstances or attributes. See examples of STATE used in a sentence.
- (also State) [countable] a country considered as an organized political community controlled by one government. the Baltic States. European Union member states.
- (also State) [countable] (abbreviation St.) an organized political community forming part of a country. the states of Victoria and Western Australia. The hurricane swept across the southern states of the US.
- (also the State) [uncountable, singular] the government of a country. matters/affairs of state. people who are financially dependent on the state. a state-owned company.
- [countable] the mental, emotional or physical condition that a person or thing is in. a confused mental state. state of something a confused state of mind.
3 days ago · Definition of 'state' Word Frequency. state. (steɪt ) Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present tense states , present participle stating , past tense, past participle stated. 1. countable noun. You can refer to countries as states, particularly when you are discussing politics .
In politics, a state is the government of a country which has control over a geographic area or territory. States have three main features: Control over a geographic area, or territory. A people, the population of the state. Institutions which have the power to make laws.
