مفهوم الدولة: الأصل والمكونات

• The study of the origins of the state is related to two types of studies: analytical and historical.
• History explains how the state arose and how it disappeared.
• Theories attempt to explain the origin and basic elements of the state, since history does not tell us how man was able to form a political society.

Definition of the State and its Components

• The state is defined as a group of people who reside permanently in a specific territory, governed by an organized body called the government.
• A state needs a group of individuals, a territory, and a government to exist.
• The group of individuals must have a desire to coexist, influenced by factors such as proximity, shared traditions, and common interests.
• A common origin, religion, and language are desirable, but not necessarily required for the state to come into fruition.
• The nation is a group of individuals linked by natural ties (origin, language, religion) and similar customs and traditions.
• The people are not required to have the natural unity to become elements of the state, so not every nation is a state, and not every state is a nation.
• The principle of the right to self-determination arose from the desire of nations to have a state, as it appeared in President Wilson's statements and in the Atlantic Declaration, and in the United Nations Charter.
• The principle of self-determination includes that any territorial change must comply with the wishes of the people residing in the area to be separated from one state to be annexed to another.
• The people are free to choose the type of government they want to live under.
• People of non-self-governing regions (colonies) have the right to determine their destiny by determining the type of rule they want to live under.
• The defined territory is the second element of state formation, for every state boundaries separate it from the territory of neighboring countries.
• These borders are important as they determine the extent of the sovereignty of the state.
• The territory includes the earth's surface, private and public properties, roads, bridges, aqueducts, and everything beneath the surface, including minerals, oil, and coal.
• A state has a an area of water that includes all rivers and lakes within its borders, provided those rivers and lakes are contained within said borders.
• The sovereignty of the state extends to a portion of the adjacent public seas, called territorial waters.
• Historically, it was 3 miles from the coast but some states raised it to 12 miles, and the matter is still subject to debate.
• The state's sovereignty extends to the layers of airspace above its territory, including its territorial waters, up to a certain height.
• Beyond that height, the airspace is considered free for all countries.
• The government is necessary for the existence of the state to oversee the people, regulate relations between individuals, manage the territory, exploit its resources and to protect the people from any external aggression.

Social Contract Theory

• This theory rests on two main hypotheses: the first is the state of nature and the second is the contract.
• The contract can mean a political social contract explaining the origins of society, or a government contract.
• The state of nature assumes that the state of nature precedes the political formation of society, and the only regulator of people's lives was natural, rather than man-made, law.
• The writers most often describe the state of man in this society as a state of ferocity.

The Social Contract

• The writers debated the topic of the contract.
• Some see it as a fixed historical truth explaining the origins of society, while others regarded it as a governmental contract.
• Some writers considered it as a valid basis for what the relationship between rulers and ruled should be.
• The basic idea for is the relinquishment by individuals of part of their natural rights in exchange for the benefits of political society.
• Social theory is old, and although Roman legislators did not believe in Cicero's idea of freedom, they still attributed political powers to the people.
• The Romans did not come up with a clear theory of the contract, but came up with many of its components because Roman law considered acceptance one of the most important elements of law.
• Germanic tribes brought political ideas, the most important being that the people must consent to the appointment of the king.
• The king, when assuming power, implicitly contracts with the people to respect their traditions and customs.
• The feudal system was built on the idea of agreement.
• Mangold de Lautenbach was the first to develop the theory, believing that the king's position was sacred and that the king drew authority from the people.
• The king receives this authority in exchange for protecting the people from tyranny and corruption.
• If the king turned against the people, they had the right to be liberated from his rule as long as he did not respect the contract between them.
• Manigold used his theory to establish the constitutional rights of individuals.
• Hobbes believed that the state of nature was cruel, governed only by the law of self-preservation, so natural law dictated that individuals seek to emerge from this state.
• Individuals formed a contract by which they established the state, and individuals gave up all their natural rights.
• These rights were given to one person, or a group of people acting as one person, with supreme authority who could not be deprived of it.
• Hobbes did not distinguish between the government and the state and believed that abolishing the ruler meant the end of the state.
• Locke believed that the original view was dominated by freedom and equality between individuals, and individuals are subject to natural law.
• People sought to live in a political society for protection because there was no unbiased people to defend individuals.
• Individuals contracted with each other and formed a political society, and then contracted with a ruling authority and gave up part of their rights to fulfill the community's goals.
• The state arose to protect the rights that existed, and the individual waived them to secure basic rights.
• The ruler should not have unlimited authority, but limited authority and should be replaced by the people if the situation calls for it.
• Locke defended the constitutional system of government, and his political thinking was more mature.
• Rousseau aimed to create a social system in which collective authority is used to protect the individual and his property.
• Rousseau wanted to maintain individual's personal freedom, picturing the state of nature as ideally superior.
• Humans had to live in a community because of the ever-increasing population and gave up these natural freedoms under contract.
• The government serves but can't replace popular sovereignty.
• The people hold legislative power, and the government holds executive power where the people are in session, the power goes back to the people.
• A law can only be considered a law if it is issued by the people.
• Rousseau denies that parliamentary bodies genuinely represent the general will because he believes that it is the people who have legislative power.
• Public will doesn't mean consensus; majority rule is enough.
• Rousseau agrees with Hobbes that sovereignty must be absolute, but Hobbes attributes this to the ruler, while Rousseau attributes it to the people.
• Rousseau agrees with Locke in distinguishing between the ruler and the power behind, meaning the difference between legal and political authority.
• Locke believes that all actions of the ruler are legal as long as they do not conflict with basic individual rights.
• Rousseau believes laws must be issued by the public will, the government cannot issue any law.
• Starting from the 19th century, the social contract theory began to disappear.
• Political philosophy relied on historical study and drew its rules from reality.
• Darwin's theory of evolution influenced scientific thinking.
• It is not factual.
• The idea of the state of nature is not correct for it is not based on sound scientific basis.
• The theory is illogical because freedom cannot be achieved. One must have rights, and there were none in the state of nature.
• The theory is impossible because it requires a legal system to protect the contract, and since the initial condition is free of law, respecting the contract is unimaginable.
• Bluntschli believes the theory contains dangerous views for the state because many believers in it believe that the people have absolute right to revolt and that's destructive.
• The theory has achieved great benefits for European society in its early emergence because it stood up to the system of absolute rule, supported the rights of the people, and put an end to the tyranny of the ruling class and the aristocracy.

Theory of Divine Origin

• This theory rests on the basic idea that God is the one who created the state, and the state ruled over by a ruler from God is called a state of theocracy.
• The theory of divine rule goes back to the first stage of political life: Judaism.