Democracy and Good Governance
Senior 6 · General and Religious Studies
Democracy and Good Governance
Lesson 1 of 4
22 min
Vatican City covers about 0.44 square kilometres, less than many Rwandan cells, and has fewer than a thousand residents. Russia covers about 17 million square kilometres and has more than 140 million people. Rwanda, at 26,338 square kilometres and 13,246,394 people at the 2022 census (NISR), lies between them. Yet in law all three are equal: each is a state, with one vote in any international organisation it joins. Meanwhile Antarctica, larger than Europe, is not a state at all.
Size, wealth and power do not make a state. What does?
Important
Source A: the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (1933), Article 1
"The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states."
The Convention was signed by American states at Montevideo, Uruguay, in December 1933. Its four criteria are now treated as the standard test of statehood everywhere.
Definition
State: a permanent population living in a defined territory under a government that is sovereign, that is, able to make and enforce laws at home and to deal with other states. Example: the Republic of Rwanda.
Sovereignty: supreme authority. Internal sovereignty is the State's final authority over everyone in its territory; external sovereignty is its independence from control by other states. Rwanda's Constitution places national sovereignty in the people: "National power derives from Rwandans" (Article One).
Government: the institutions and people that exercise the State's power at a given time. Governments change through elections; the State continues.
Nation: a people who share an identity, often a history, language and culture, and feel that they belong together. A nation-state is a state whose people largely form one nation, as Rwandans, who share one language, Kinyarwanda, do.
Recognition: the formal acceptance by other states that an entity is a state. It is political as well as legal.
| Case | Permanent population | Defined territory | Government | Capacity for relations | A state? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rwanda | Yes: 13.2 million (2022) | Yes: land, rivers, lakes and airspace within its borders (Article 5) | Yes | Yes: member of the UN, AU, EAC and Commonwealth | Yes |
| Vatican City | Yes, though very small | Yes: about 0.44 km² | Yes: the Holy See | Yes: exchanges ambassadors with most states | Yes |
| Antarctica | No: only scientists who come and go | Claims by seven states are frozen by the Antarctic Treaty (1959) | No | No | No |
| The Sovereign Military Order of Malta | No population of its own | No: only buildings in Rome | Yes: a Grand Master and council | Yes: relations with more than 100 states | No; an unusual international body, not a state |
The table shows that the criteria work together: an entity with a government and diplomats but no territory or people is not a state, and a territory with no permanent people or government is not a state either.
| Term | What it is | Rwandan example |
|---|---|---|
| State | The permanent political organisation of a territory and its people | The Republic of Rwanda, independent since 1 July 1962 |
| Government | Those who run the State for a time | The President, the Cabinet and the institutions in office today |
| Nation | A people with a shared identity | Rwandans, Abanyarwanda, at home and in the diaspora |
| Country | An everyday word for a state, or for a land and its people | "Rwanda is a beautiful country" |
Warning
Do not confuse the State with the government. "The government" changes after elections; "the State" continues and owns public property, signs treaties and owes debts whoever is in office. An exam answer that says "the State is the President and ministers" loses the mark.
| Form | How power is organised | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Unitary state | One central government holds sovereign power and may delegate some of it to local entities | Rwanda, Kenya, France |
| Federal state | The constitution divides power between a federal government and states or regions, each with its own powers | Nigeria, Ethiopia, the United States |
| Confederation | Sovereign states join for limited common purposes and keep their own sovereignty | The Senegambia Confederation of Senegal and The Gambia (1982–1989) |
| Republic or monarchy | A republic has an elected or appointed head of state; a monarchy a hereditary one | Rwanda is a republic; Morocco and Lesotho are monarchies |
Article One of Rwanda's Constitution says that national sovereignty belongs to Rwandans, who exercise it directly by referendum and elections or through their representatives. Article 6 says that public powers are decentralised to local administrative entities. Figure 1 shows the result: the central government makes national policy, while districts plan and deliver services such as health centres and schools, and villages bring the State within walking distance of every citizen.
Whatever its form, every state performs the same core functions: defending its territory, keeping order and justice, making and enforcing laws, providing services such as education and health, managing the economy and representing its people abroad.
Tip
Define, then test. When asked "is X a state?", list the four Montevideo criteria and test each one against the case, as in the table above, then add a sentence on recognition. Examiners reward the method more than the verdict.
Important
Discuss. Rwanda belongs to the East African Community, which has a common market and its own court and parliament. When a state accepts rules made by such a community, does it lose part of its sovereignty, or is it using its sovereignty?
Professor James Ker-Lindsay (London School of Economics): "What is a country? The 4 criteria to be a state", about six minutes. Note his examples of entities that meet some criteria but not all, and what he says about recognition.
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: Figure 1, the tables, the analysis and the exercises.
