Modern political science has state as its central theme for discussion. The state has several aspects and political science studies all of them. There are some attributes which characterize a state. These attributes are enlisted below: (i) territory, (ii) legislative, (iii) executive, and (iv) judiciary.
It is the state which has a definite territory. It is defined and its integrity is upheld by the political organization. The political organization is a very comprehensive term which essentially includes legislative, executive and judiciary powers. In a broad way, it is called government.
Political scientists argue that wherever there is a state, there is always some system of government. The government has power to wage war against enemy. It can levy taxes; it can use force. And, these are the attributes that differentiate the state from other institutions.
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Before social anthropologists took to the study of state and government in primitive societies, political science had already made headway in the study of power and politics. Aristotle had done pioneering work in his book Politics. Plato’s study Republic followed. These works are rated as classical works of political science.
However, the fault with these works is that they deal with the ideal form of state and talk very little about the empirical situation of government and state. It was only in the 19th century that the social anthropologists worked on the theme of state and government in the primitive society.