The justification of the state is a term that refers to the source of legitimate authority for the state or government. Typically, a justification of the state explains why the state should exist, and what a legitimate state should or should not be able to do.

There is no single, universally accepted justification of the state. Most political ideologies have their own justifications, and thus their own vision of what constitutes a legitimate state.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, the most widespread justification of the state was the divine right of kings, which stated that monarchs draw their power from God, and the state should be only an apparatus that puts the monarch's will into practice. This combined with primogeniture became a theory of hereditary monarchy, in the nation states of the early modern period. The Holy Roman Empire was not a state in that sense. The political ideas current in China at that time involved the related idea of the mandate of heaven, but without the assumption that the connection between a dynasty and the state was permanent.

Later, starting in the period of the eighteenth century usually called the Enlightenment, a new justification of the European state developed: the social contract. The theory of the social contract states that governments draw their power from the governed (from the people), that no person should have absolute power, and that a legitimate state is one which meets the needs and wishes of its citizens. This theory eventually eliminated the belief in the divine right of kings, and formed the basis for modern democracy.

Other theological forms of justification for the state are still used in the modern world. For example, Saddam Hussein of Iraq has attempted to legitamatize his rule by claiming his purpose is to honor Iraq's Islamic heritage. The justification for Pakistan was slightly different. In that case, the British appeased the Islamic movement by separating their colony into Pakistan and India at the time of its independence. They mainly did this to avoid violence, rather than because they believed Muslims deserved a state on theological grounds.

A related and well-known modern justification for a state is the justification for the state of Israel. The United Nations awarded the Zionist movement the state largely in order to provide a home for the displaced Jewish victims of the Holocaust. They did so by withdrawing their mandate over the land of Palestine.

Related articles

• The purpose of government
• Consequentialist justifications of the state
• Monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force

References

• BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/crisis_in_the_gulf/decision_makers_and_diplomacy/216328.stm)
• Lonely Planet guide history of Pakistan (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/indian_subcontinent/pakistan/history.htm)
• CIA World Fact Book (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/is.html)