State as a Politically Organised Society within a Defined Territory

In 1971, East Pakistan broke away and became Bangladesh, and nobody argued that Pakistan had ceased to exist. When Bengaluru's outer boundary is redrawn next year, nobody will say Karnataka has stopped being a State either. Territory can shrink, expand or shift, and the State usually survives it. So why does every definition still insist territory is essential? That question is this topic.

In two minutes

A State must be organised politically — through a government whose authority is backed by sanction — over a definite, settled territory; take away either the organisation or the fixed land, and what remains is a tribe, a movement or a claim, not a State.

The rest of this chapter

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