The state is a political organization that possesses. The state as a political organization of society

The state is the political organization of society with an apparatus of power.

The state serves society, solves the tasks facing society as a whole, as well as tasks that reflect the interests of individual social groups, territorial communities of the country's population. The solution of these tasks of the organization and life of society is an expression of the social purpose of the state. Changes in the life of the country, society, for example, industrialization, urbanization, population growth, pose new tasks for the state in the field of social policy, in the development of measures for organizing the life of society in new conditions.

Among the most important tasks, in the solution of which the social purpose of the state finds expression, is ensuring the integrity of society, fair cooperation of various social groups, timely overcoming acute contradictions in the life of society and its constituent communities and groups.

The social purpose and active role of the state are expressed in ensuring a lasting public order, scientifically grounded use of nature, in protecting the environment of human life and activities. And the most important thing in characterizing the social purpose of the state is to ensure a decent human life and the well-being of the people.

The ideas of the social purpose of the state were concretized and developed in the concept (theory) of the "social state". The provisions on the welfare state are enshrined in a number of constitutions of democratic states.

A democratic social state is called upon to provide all citizens with constitutional rights and freedoms. Ensure not only material well-being, but also cultural rights and freedoms. The welfare state is a country with a developed culture. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted on December 16, 1966, states that the ideal of a free human person, free from fear and want, can be realized only if such conditions are created in which everyone can enjoy their economic , social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights.

In modern conditions in Russia, the urgent tasks in the social policy of the state are to ensure the right to work and measures to overcome unemployment, labor protection, improve its organization and remuneration. It is necessary to multiply and improve measures to strengthen and state support for families, motherhood and childhood. Social policy needs to stimulate assistance to senior citizens, disabled people, strengthening health care, other social institutions and services. The major tasks of the state social policy are in the field of regulating the demographic processes of society, stimulating the birth rate, raising the role of women in the life of the state's society.

The state is a concept that is used often, which is known by almost everyone, starting from a very young age. From that age when the tsar-father rules in fairy tales his kingdom-state. But not everyone can tell what it is.

There are many ways to answer the question of what a state is. Here is some of them:

• the state is an organization of political power, designed to ensure the livelihoods of people in its specific territory, which has a coercive body and collects taxes and fees to ensure its internal and external functions;
• the state is a force, authority, an organization that forces a person to do something, and therefore in its beginning it is unjust and wrong.

And there is still a huge number of variations, meanwhile giving a definite and completely different interpretation of the question of what a state is. In jurisprudence, there are several characteristics that the state should have:

1. Territory - clearly fixed and at least partially permanent should be in any state.

This condition is sometimes cleverly circumvented by the owners of such organizations as

For example, they register their own apartment or website as the territory of their state (no one said that the territory should be real, not virtual).

2. Right. What is a state - something ordered, and like any organized group of people, the state must have rules, i.e. law, laws, judicial system, etc.

3. Coercive apparatus - that is, the police, riot police, the FBI, the system of fines and the like.

4. Public authority - important These are people who are professionally involved in management, lawmaking, tax collection and nothing else.

5. Taxes and fees for these social services, as well as public needs such as war, famine, crop failure or, say, restoration of monuments, preparation for the Olympics or road repair.

6. Ideology is an optional item. Ideology in the state - religion, philosophy or way of life. In the absence of ideology, the state is called secular.

7. Social services - ie. school, universities, hospitals, etc.

8. Sovereignty - the relationship of the state with other administrative units.

The main answer to the question of what a state is, whether this or that object is a state or not, is its recognition or non-recognition as such. Of course, other countries and their authorized representatives must recognize them.

Scientists differ not only in the definition of the state, but also in its origin. There are several theories regarding the form: theological (everything was created by God, the authors were Thomas Aquinas and the social contract (people cannot live without society, so they concluded an agreement, the authors are Jean-Jacques Rousseau, D. Lorc, G. Hobbes and some others), Marxist, racial (the state is the result of the racial superiority of some peoples over others, the authors are Gubino, Nietzsche) and a number of others.

The state is a power-political organization with sovereignty, a special apparatus of government and coercion, and establishing the legal order in a certain territory.

The state is a set of political institutions, the main purpose of which is to protect and maintain the integrity of society in a certain territory.

The state appears at a certain stage in the development of society as a political organization, as an institution of power and management of society. There are two main concepts of the emergence of the state. In accordance with the first concept, the state arises in the course of the natural development of society and the conclusion of an agreement between citizens and rulers (T. Hobbes, J. Locke). The second concept goes back to the ideas of Plato. She rejects the first and insists that the state arises as a result of the conquest (conquest) of a relatively small group of militant and organized people (tribe, race), significantly outnumbering, but less organized population (D. Hume, F. Nietzsche). Obviously, in the history of mankind, both the first and second ways of the emergence of the state took place.

The term "state" is usually used in a broad and narrow sense.

In a broad sense, the state is identified with society, with a certain country. For example, we say: "the state of India". In the above example, a state is understood as a whole country together with its people living in a certain territory. This view of the state dominated in antiquity and in the Middle Ages.

In a narrow sense, the state is understood as one of the institutions of the political system that has supreme power in society. This understanding of the role and place of the state is substantiated during the formation of civil society institutions (XVIII - XIX centuries), when the political system and social structure of society become more complex, and it becomes necessary to separate state institutions and institutions from society and other non-state institutions of the political system.

State signs:

Territory. This is the spatial basis of the state. It includes land, subsoil, water and air space, etc. On its territory, the state exercises independent power and has the right to defend the territory from invasion from other states.

Population. It is composed of people living in the territory of the state. The population of a state can consist of people of the same nationality or be multinational, as, for example, in Russia, where more than 60 nations live. The state will be stable and will develop if the relations between them are good-neighborly, not conflict.

Public authority. Public power is otherwise called public power, that is, power capable of organizing people's lives. The term "power" means the ability to influence in the right direction, or otherwise the ability to subordinate to one's will. State power is exercised through state bodies and institutions. All of them are united into a single system called the state apparatus. Its most important components are legislative and executive bodies. State power extends to all people living in the territory of the state.

Sovereignty. This is the independence of the state when solving internal and external issues of its life. Otherwise, sovereignty is independence, insubordination, non-accountability of the state to anyone. Distinguish between internal and external sovereignty. Internal sovereignty means that state power independently decides all issues of the country's life, and these decisions are binding on the entire population. External sovereignty allows a state to independently build its relations with other states, based on its own interests. In international relations, sovereignty is expressed in the fact that the authorities of a given state are not legally obliged to obey other states.

The generic concept for all variants of understanding the state is the concept of public political power.

There are different types of personal and social power in society - the power of the head of the family, the power of the master over the slave or servant, the economic power of the owners of the means of production, the spiritual power (authority) of the church, etc. All these types represent either individual or corporate, group power. It exists due to the personal dependence of the subordinates, does not apply to all members of society, is not carried out in the name of the people, does not claim universality, is not public.

The public power is distributed according to the territorial principle, everyone who is in a certain "subject" territory is subject to it. These "all" represent a subordinate people, population, a set of abstract subjects (subjects or citizens). It does not matter for the public authority whether the subjects are connected by kinship, ethnic ties or not. Everyone, including foreigners (with rare exceptions), is subject to the public authority on its territory.

Political power is the power that exercises control over the people in the interests of the well-being of society as a whole and regulates social relations in order to achieve or maintain stability and order.

Public political power is exercised by a special layer of people who are professionally involved in management and constitute the apparatus of power. This apparatus subordinates all strata of society, social groups to its will (the will of the ruler, parliamentary majority, political elite, etc.), controls on the basis of organized coercion up to the possibility of physical violence against social groups and individuals. The apparatus of public political power exists and functions at the expense of taxes from the population, which are established and levied either by law, when taxpayers are free owners, or arbitrarily, by force, when they are not free. In the latter case, these are no longer taxes in the proper sense, but tribute or taxes.

The apparatus of public political power is designed to act in the general interest. But the apparatus and, above all, its leaders express the interests of society in the way they understand them; more precisely, under a democracy, the apparatus expresses the real interests of most social groups, while under authoritarianism, the rulers themselves determine what the interests and needs of society are. Due to the relative independence of the apparatus of power from society, the corporate interests of the apparatus and individual rulers may not coincide with the interests of most other social groups. The apparatus of power and the rulers always strive to pass off their interests as the interests of society as a whole, and their interests are primarily in the preservation and consolidation of power, in the preservation of power in their hands.

In a broad sense, the apparatus of public political power includes the legislator (it can be both the parliament and the sole ruler), government administrative and financial bodies, the police, the armed forces, the court, and punitive institutions. All the highest powers of public political power can be combined in one person or body of power, but they can also be divided. In the narrow sense, the apparatus of power, or the apparatus of administration, is a set of bodies of power and officials, excluding elected members of the legislative assembly (bodies of popular representation) and judges.

The apparatus of public political power has a monopoly on coercion up to and including violence throughout the territory under its control and against the entire population. No other social power can compete with public political power and use force without its permission. This means the sovereignty of public political power, i.e. its supremacy in the subject territory and independence from the power organizations operating outside this territory. Only the apparatus of public political power can issue laws and other generally binding acts. All orders of this authority are binding. state sovereignty power tax

Thus, public political power is characterized by the following formal features:

• - unites the subordinates (people, population of the country) on a territorial basis, creates a territorial organization of subordinates, a political association, integrated by public-power relations and institutions;
• - carried out by a special apparatus that does not coincide with all members of society and exists at the expense of taxes, an organization that manages society on the basis of coercion up to violence;
• - has sovereignty and the prerogative of lawmaking.

The organization of public political power and its functioning can be regulated by laws. At the same time, real political public-power relations may deviate more or less significantly from what is established by law. Power can be exercised by law and independently of the law.

Finally, public political power can be different in content, namely, two fundamentally opposite types are possible: either power is limited by the freedom of the subjects and is intended to protect their freedom, or it exists in a society where there is no freedom and is unlimited. Thus, the legal type of organization and implementation of political power (statehood) and the power type (from old despotism to modern totalitarianism) are distinguished.

If at least some of the subjects are free in relation to the government, this means that they are politically free and participate in state-legal communication, have rights in relation to the government apparatus, and therefore participate in the formation and implementation of public political power. The opposite type, despotism, is an organization of power in which the subjects are not free and have no rights. Power of this type forms and regulates all relations between the subjects, creates both public order and society itself.

In modern science, the relationship between state and law, the need for a legal basis for power in the state is generally recognized. But if we consider that law and law are identical, then any organization of public political power can be considered state, since despotic power is based on laws. If we proceed from the distinction between law and law and the libertarian understanding of law, then it should be recognized that state power is only such a public political power under which at least a part of the subject, part of the members of society, has freedom.

On this basis, various concepts of the state are built, i.e. in different concepts the sphere of public-power political phenomena, described as a state, turns out to be more or less broad. Within the framework of the positivist type of understanding of law and the state, sociological and legalist concepts of the state are known. Within the framework of a non-positivist, legal type of legal thinking, a libertarian concept is developing in modern science explaining the state as a legal type of organization and implementation of public political power.

THE STATE AS A SPECIAL POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

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The concept of the state, its signs and functions

The state can be defined as the all-encompassing political organization of the ruling class, serving as the main instrument for ensuring its interests.

The formed definition of the state refers to the state in the proper sense of the word. These are, first of all, the slaveholding and feudal state.

Revealing the content of the concept of the state, we first of all bring it under such an ordinary concept as a political organization. Thus, we transfer the features inherent in the general concept to the defined concept "state". Therefore, there is no need to list them. It remains only to indicate the main features of the state as a special political reality. These will be: 1) the all-encompassing nature of the state; 2) the existence of the state as a political organization of the ruling class; 3) his official role.

The state, being the main political institution, is called upon to manage society, protect economic and social structures, maintain public order and the functioning of all social institutions.

The state is a product of the internal evolution of a society that objectively needs organizational design. In different epochs, in different conditions, the state acts as an organization for managing society, as a mechanism of power. The state does not have an eternal nature, it did not exist in a primitive society, but appeared only at the final stage of its development due to various reasons, primarily associated with new organizational and labor norms of human existence.

The state, its mechanism (the system of state bodies) do not remain unchanged, frozen.

The state changes along with society as a political form of its organization. We can talk about the peculiarities of the state mechanism of slaveholding, feudal, bourgeois society, etc. This is one approach to the classification of states, there are others. For example, authoritarian, totalitarian, democratic states can be distinguished.

Consequently, the state can be defined as a special organization of the political power of society, which has a special coercive apparatus that expresses the will and interests of the ruling class, another social group, or the entire people.

If we talk about a democratic type of state, then its formation and development in European countries refers to the end of the 18th-19th centuries. The construction of the quality of a democratic state has begun today by Russia. The development of Russia as a rule-of-law democratic state presupposes that:

• 1) the bearer of sovereignty and the only source of state power of the Russian Federation is its multinational people;
• 2) democracy (democracy) is carried out on the basis of political and ideological diversity, a multi-party system;
• 3) the state, its bodies, institutions and officials serve the entire society, and not any part of it, are responsible to a person and a citizen;
• 4) a person, his rights and freedoms - the highest value;
• 5) the system of state power is based on the principle of separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers, as well as the delineation of the subjects of jurisdiction and powers (competence) between the Russian Federation, its constituent republics, territories, regions, autonomous okrugs and local self-government bodies;
• 6) the rule of law or connection with the law based on the will of society.

In the concept of "the state in general", they fix the general characteristics characteristic of any state, regardless of its character.

We can talk about the signs that distinguish the state from the primitive organization of society, and we can talk about the signs thanks to which it differs from any social organization, association, movement.

The state differs from the social organization of primitive society in the following features.

First, it has political power, that is, the organized concentrated coercion of one part of society to another.

Secondly, it is characterized by the distribution of the population by administrative-territorial units.

The territorial division of the population characteristic of the state:

• a) consolidates the rupture of blood ties of the former clan, the rupture caused by the mobility and variability of the place of residence of the population, and ties with the developed exchange of goods, a change in occupation and the alienation of land property;
• b) makes the generally accepted organization of people only at the place of residence, regardless of their family ties;
• c) turns all people, regardless of their position, into subjects of the state;
• d) clearly defines the external borders of the state, as well as its internal administrative-territorial structure.

Thirdly, the state sets taxes, thanks to which its apparatus is maintained.

The state differs from other public organizations, associations and movements in the following main features.

First, the state covers the entire population living within its territory. Public organizations, associations and movements cover only a certain part of society.

Secondly, the state is distinguished by the presence of a special category of persons - officials, a special apparatus endowed with power.

Thirdly, the state acts as the official representative of the whole society, is its concentrated expression and embodiment.

Fourth, the state differs from other organizations in the presence of sovereignty.

State sovereignty should be understood as the independence and independence of state power in solving the tasks facing it.

These signs of the state have received universal recognition in the legal literature. They are essential.

And in order to unmistakably establish a social feature, one must be guided by the position according to which there is an inalienable two-way relationship between a phenomenon and its main feature, namely: the absence of this feature inevitably entails the absence of the phenomenon of which it is a feature. In turn, such a sign cannot exist without a phenomenon.

An intermediate conclusion - the essential features of the state are:

• 1. The presence of public power, which, embodied in state bodies, acts as state power. It is carried out by a special layer of people performing the functions of control and coercion. This special layer of people is the apparatus of the state, which is endowed with state-power powers, that is, the ability to issue binding acts, to resort to state influence, if necessary, in order to subordinate people's behavior to the will, which found its expression in decisions made by state bodies.
• 2. Territorial organization of the population. State power is exercised within a certain territory and applies to all people living here. In primitive society, the subordination of people to power was due to their belonging to the clan, that is, by blood kinship. The sign of the state is characterized by the extension of its power to all people in the territory of this state.
• 3. State sovereignty, that is, the independence of state power from the new other power inside the country and outside. State sovereignty, which gives the state the right to independently and freely decide its affairs, distinguishes the state, along with its other features, from other organizations of society (for example, political parties), territorial entities.
• 4. The activity of all state bodies is based on the rule of law. The state is the only organization that carries out lawmaking, that is, creates laws and other legal acts that are binding on the entire population.
• 5. The existence of a system of compulsory taxes and other obligatory payments.

The social purpose of the state, the nature and content of its activities are expressed in the functions of the state, which are associated with the main directions of its activities.

The classification of functions is based on the spheres of activity of the state, that is, those areas of social relations that it affects. Depending on this, the functions of the state can be divided into internal and external.

1. Internal functions are the main directions of the state's activities within a given country, which characterize the internal policy of the state. These include protective and regulatory.

The implementation of protective functions presupposes the activity of the state to ensure and protect all social relations enshrined and regulated by law. To this end, the state takes care of:

• a) on the defense of the rights and freedoms of citizens, on the observance of law and order;
• b) on ensuring civil harmony in society;
• c) on equal protection of all forms of ownership;
• d) on environmental protection, etc.

In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, recognition, observance and protection of human and civil rights and freedoms is the duty of the state. Rights and freedoms are recognized as inalienable, belonging to a person from birth. The state guarantees everyone judicial protection of his rights and freedoms. The rights of victims of crime and abuse of power are protected by law. Everyone has the right to compensation for harm caused by illegal actions (or inaction) of state authorities or their officials.

In the Russian Federation, private, state, municipal and other forms of property are recognized and protected in an equal manner.

Regulatory functions characterize the role of the state in organizing social production, developing the country's economy, in creating the necessary conditions for the formation of an individual. To this end, the state regulates the economic environment of life in the interests of individuals and society, taking care of the material well-being and spiritual development of people. The regulatory functions include economic, social functions, the function of taxation and tax collection, and others.

The economic function of the state is reduced to:

• a) development of economic policy;
• b) management of state enterprises and organizations;
• c) establishing the legal framework for the market and pricing policy.

In the Russian Federation, the unity of the economic space, free movement of goods, services and financial resources, encouragement of competition, freedom of economic activity are guaranteed (Article 8 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation).

The implementation of the social function of the state involves the creation of conditions that ensure a dignified life and free development of a person. In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, labor and health of people are protected in the Russian Federation, state support for family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood, disabled people and elderly citizens is established, a system of social services is developing, state pensions and benefits are established (Article 7).

Taxation and collection of taxes is the most important function of the state. This is due to the fact that the state budget consists of various kinds of taxes, fees, duties and other mandatory payments. In 1992, the Law on the Fundamentals of the Tax System in the Russian Federation was adopted, which regulates the rights, obligations and responsibilities of taxpayers and tax authorities. The Russian Federation has created and operates a tax service, the tax police of the Russian Federation. In accordance with Art. 57 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, everyone is obliged to pay legally established taxes and fees.

• 2. External functions are manifested in the foreign policy of the state, its relations with other countries. External functions include: mutually beneficial international cooperation, ensuring the defense of the state from outside attack, and others. International cooperation is carried out in two directions:
  • a) foreign policy activities;
  • b) foreign economic activity and cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, the field of environmental protection, etc.

The foreign policy of the Russian Federation is based on the principles of recognition and respect of state sovereignty and sovereign equality of all countries, equality and non-interference in their internal affairs, respect for territorial integrity and inviolability of existing borders, refusal to use force and the threat of force, economic and any other methods of pressure, respect human rights and freedoms, including the rights of national minorities, the fulfillment of obligations in good faith and other generally accepted principles and norms of international law. The Russian Federation is a member of the UN, a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It interacts with many other international organizations.

The defense function of the Russian Federation is based on the principle of maintaining a sufficient level of the country's defense capability that meets the requirements of Russia's national security, ensuring the integrity and inviolability of its territory. In 1992, the Law of the Russian Federation on Defense was adopted, which defines the principles underlying the organization of the country's defense, and in 1993 the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the main provisions of the military doctrine of the Russian Federation was issued.

External and internal functions of the state are closely interrelated and interdependent.