POLGOV - L 1,2,3

• Political Science


  A social science that deals with the systematic study of the state and government
• Bluntschi, a German scholar and political analyst: 'Political science is the science, which is concerned with the state, which endeavors to comprehend the state in its fundamental conditions, in its essential nature, its various forms of manifestations, and its development'
• Dr. Paul Janet, a French scholar: 'Political science is that branch of social science which treats of the foundations of the state and the principles underlying government administration'
• Seeley, an English writer: 'Political science is a discipline that investigates the phenomena of government, as political economy that deals with wealth, biology with life, statistics with numbers, and geometry with space and magnitude'
• Most writers defined political science as the study of state and government
• Polis


  Greek term meaning city
• Polites


  Greek term meaning citizen
• Politikos


  Greek term meaning civic
• Scientia


  Latin term meaning knowledge
• The study of political science has for its primary objective, the fundamental knowledge and understanding of the state and of the concepts, themes, principles, and ideals which underline its organizations and activities
• The main concern of political science is the association and interaction of human beings into a political community that is organized under government and law
• State


  A community of persons, more or less numerous, permanently occupying a fixed territory, and possessed of an independent government organized for political ends to which the great body of inhabitants render habitual obedience
• Nation


  Used interchangeably with state, e.g, the United Nations, or the family of nations, which actually consists of states and not nations
• The term nation, strictly speaking, as evidence by its etymology (naci, to be born), indicates a relation of birth or origin and implies a common race, usually characterized by community of language and customs
• The state is a legal concept, while the nation is only a racial or ethnic concept
• Government


  The agency or instrumentality through which the will of the state is formulated, expressed, and realized
• The state is the principal, the government its agent
• The state itself is an abstraction; it is the government that externalizes the state and articulates its will
• People


  • The inhabitants of the state, who must be numerous enough to be self-sufficing and to defend themselves and small enough to be easily administered and sustained
  • May develop and share certain characteristics and interest, such as a common language, a common religion, and a common set of customs and traditions that will unite them into the more closely-knit entirely known as the nation
• Territory


  • The fixed portion of the surface of the earth inhabited by the people of the state, which must be neither too big as to be difficult to administer and defend nor too small as to enable to provide for the needs of the population
  • Includes the land mass, inland and external waters, and the air space above the land and waters
• Sovereignty


  The supreme and uncontrollable power inherent in a state by which that state is governed
• Types of sovereignty


  • Legal sovereignty
  • Political sovereignty
• Legal sovereignty


  The authority which has the power to issue final commands
• Political sovereignty


  The power behind the legal sovereign, or the sum of the influences that operate upon it
• Types of sovereignty


  • Internal sovereignty
  • External sovereignty
• Internal sovereignty


  The power of the state to control its domestic affairs
• External sovereignty


  The power of the state to direct its relations with other states, also known as independence
• Sovereignty is permanent, exclusive, comprehensive, absolute, indivisible, inalienable, and imprescriptible
• The Constitution of 1987 is the fourth fundamental law to govern the Philippines since it became independent on July 4, 1946
• The first was the Commonwealth Constitution, adopted in 1935, which continued by its provisions to be operative after the proclamation of the Republic of the Philippines
• The second was the constitution of 1973, which was enforced during the Marcos regime following its dubious approval and ratification at a time when the country was already under martial law
• On February 25, 1986, as a result of the people power upheaval that deposed President Marcos, the new President proclaimed a Freedom Constitution to be effective pending the adoption of permanent constitution
• President Corazon C. Aquino, in Proclamation No. 9, created a Constitutional Commission composed of fifty members appointed by her and charged it to frame a new charter not later than September 2, 1986
• The plebiscite on the proposed constitution was scheduled and held on February 2, 1987, where 76.29% of the electorate had voted to ratify, with only 22.74% against
• The Constitution is the basic and paramount law to which all other laws must conform and to which all persons, including the highest officials of the land, must defer
• No act shall be valid, however noble its intentions, if it conflicts with the constitution
• Under the 1987 Constitution, there are three branches of the government which has blending of powers and checks and balances: Legislative, Executive and Judiciary
• Legislature


  A body of persons, usually elective, empowered to make, change, or repeal the laws of a country or state
• The legislature has the essential function of determining and prescribing general rules for the government of society
• Through laws, the legislature defines the rights and duties of citizens, imposes taxes, appropriate funds, defines crimes and prescribes their punishment, creates, and abolishes offices and determines their jurisdiction and functions