State is the concept of politics, economics, sociology, law and common language that refers to the organizational unit of human society, the institution and organization, which is typically defined by:
- State power, sovereignty and state symbols
- Creation of law and its application
- State territory (principle of territoriality) and citizenship (principle of personality)
- Various theories on the emergence of the state are very different in mentioned disciplines.
Generally speaking, states have been historically formed from the need to organize society and maintain the homeostasis (balance). In this concept state is a tool of society, whose members gradually agreed that an institution such as the state is necessary for them and gave up part of their sovereignty and delegated it to the state as a public authority, in exchange for the services that the state provides them - external and internal security, law and justice, creating rules, etc.
Of course, in reality this process was gradual. Currently states have successively uploaded to themselves a huge number of functions. It is a frequently debated issue, how they can handle all of them efficiently, effectively and economically and whether they wouldn’t be better dealt with by other institutions (e.g. family, community, municipality, non-profit sector etc.).
However, the present debate is not about the meaning of the existence of the state itself, because another similar institution simply does not exist. But the debate is, of course, about the correct and optimal range of functions and services of the state - and there the opinions are very different.
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