Concept of Nation-State

Sovereignty and Government

• Sovereignty refers to the supreme power of the state to command and enforce obedience to its will from people within its jurisdiction and have freedom from foreign control.
• The Philippines is a republic with a presidential form of government, where power is equally divided among its three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

Separation of Powers

• The principle of separation of powers is a basic corollary in a presidential system of government, where legislation belongs to Congress, execution to the Executive, and settlement of legal controversies to the Judiciary.

Executive Branch

• The executive branch carries out and enforces laws, composed of the President, Vice President, cabinet, executive departments, independent agencies, and other boards, commissions, and committees.

Legislative Branch

• The legislative branch is authorized to make, alter, and repeal laws, composed of the Senate (upper house) and the House of Representatives (lower house).
• The Congress drafts, reviews, amends, and repeals proposed laws (bills), and has the power to amend the 1987 Constitution and pass the national budget each year.

Judicial Branch

• The judicial branch evaluates and interprets the meaning of laws, applies laws to individual cases, and decides if laws violate the Constitution.
• The Judiciary is composed of the Philippine courts and the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land, with Judges and Justices appointed by the President from a pre-screened list of nominees.

The Concept of Nation-State

• A nation is generally defined as a group of people who have strong emotional, cultural, linguistic, religious, and historical ties.
• A state is defined as a community of persons, permanently occupying a definite portion of territory, having a government of its own, and enjoying freedom from external control.

Elements of State

• People refer to the mass of population living in the state, necessary for government and governance.
• Territory refers to the geographical profile of a state, which must be definite and have sufficient resources to sustain the well-being of its people.
• Government refers to the agency through which the will of the state is formulated, expressed, and carried out.