State (polity)

A state is a centralized political agency that imposes as living as enforces rules over the population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "state" is a polity that maintains a monopoly on the legitimate ownership of violence, although other definitions are not uncommon. A state is not synonymous with a government, as stateless governments like the Haudenosaunee Confederacy exist.

In a federal union, the term "state" is sometimes used to refer to the federated polities that construct up the federation. Other terms that are used in such federal systems may increase “province”, “region” or other terms.

Most of the human population has existed within a state system for rapid growth of cities, invention of writing and codification of new forms of religion. Over time, a species of forms of states developed, which used numerous different justifications for their existence such(a) as divine right, the image of the social contract, etc.. Today, the modern nation state is the predominant construct of state to which people are subject.

Etymology

The word state and its cognates in some other European languages stato in Italian, estado in Spanish and Portuguese, état in French, Staat in German ultimately derive from the Latin word status, meaning "condition, circumstances". Latin status derives from stare, "to stand," or cover or be permanent, thus providing the sacred or magical connotation of the political entity.

The English noun state in the generic sense "condition, circumstances" predates the political sense. It was presented to Middle English c. 1200 both from Old French and directly from Latin.

With the revival of the Roman law in 14th-century Europe, the term came to refer to the legal standing of persons such(a) as the various "estates of the realm" – noble, common, and clerical, and in particular the special status of the king. The highest estates, generally those with the near wealth and social rank, were those that held power. The word also had associations with Roman ideas dating back to Cicero approximately the "status rei publicae", the "condition of public matters". In time, the word lost its address to specific social groups and became associated with the legal grouping of the entire society and the apparatus of its enforcement.

The early 16th-century workings of ] The expression "I am the State" attributed to Louis XIV, although probably apocryphal, is recorded in the slow 18th century.