State ? As per International Law by Dr. Lal Tanwani

  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. 

 Dr. Lal Tanwani