Modern concept of State is absolutely different from that of the ancient times and of Medieval Europe. Briefly, it is secular, national and legal. We shall now consider each of these characteristics of the modem State in some detail.
Secularism:
By secular concept of the State is meant that the State is separate from religion. It means, in other words, that the State has nothing to do with religion, while religion, i.e. church, is not to interfere in matters of politics and State. A secular State is not necessarily an irreligious State, but it believes that religion is a private affair of the individual, in which it cannot and should not interfere at all. In this respect, modem State is different from the Greek concept of State which was ethical, and from the medieval concept, which was deeply religious, as we have explained regarding Augustine’s concept of the State above.
Secularism is a modem concept, which first came into being in the West during the early years of the twentieth century, when politics was separated from religion in almost all the Western countries. However, the idea of secular State was first propounded by Machiavelli. But it did not bring about real secularism, i.e., complete separation of religion and State, for he advocated that the ruler use religion for his political purposes. Secularist ideas were first expressed by the thinkers and philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment in France during the eighteenth century.
They asserted that Church and State should be separated from each other. However, it was in the twentieth century that secular States came into being in Europe and America. Afterwards, the idea of secular State spread to some of the newly independent States in Asia and Africa when they were liberated from centuries of Western imperialist domination after the Second World War, such as Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Bharat, etc However, in the case of India, secularism is really a political play or propaganda, for the policies, acts and laws of the so-called secularist India are in the interest of the Hindu religion, the religion of the Hindu majority in that country.
Nationalism:
Modem State is a national State, what is a nation? A nation is a people united by the bonds of common language, religion, culture, or race, and common historical experience, aspiring to establish or maintain their separate and independent State. In other words, a nation-State means a people who are conscious of their separate and independent national identity under their separate and independent State. As such, a nation-State has two component elements: objective and subjective.
Objective factors are common geography or territory, comnton language, religion, culture and common historical experience of national liberation struggles, past and present, while the subjective elements are the psychological factors of national feelings and consciousness. As a matter of fact, the psychological elements of nationhood are more important than the objective ones
Nation-State is a modem phenomenon. In the past ages, the people of a State never felt to be a nation, for they were divided into various tribes, clans, races, local communities or cities. Loyalty was primarily to these lesser units or groups, and secondarily and in a limited manner to the king or emperor. In the middle Ages in Europe, the Christian Church produced the concept of universal community of Christianity, in which the loyalty was at once to the State in matters concerning the State and towards the Church concerning religion. As a matter of fact, the rise of the national States in Europe in the modem time was a revolt against this concept of universal Christian community, preached by the Catholic Church in the middle Ages- England and France were the first national State, which came into being during the Hundred Year War which raged between them during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Next Spain and Portugal became nation-States due to their wars against the Spanish Muslims. But their national States became stunted owing to the overriding influence’of the Catholic Church and Inquisition. Next Holland became a nation State. After the French Revolution of 1789, several central and southern European nation-States came in to being, such as Germany, Italy, etc. The idea of nationalism then spread into Eastern Europe, when several nation-States came into being in consequence of their wars against the Ottoman Empire. After the Second World War, nationalism spread in Asia and Africa, where nearly sixty nation-States, .e.g., India, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, and others were established.
At present, the U.N.O. consists of about 159 nation-States. Nevertheless there are still several multi-national States, like the USSR, the U.K., the Union of South Africa, etc. Moreover, many nation-States have also several ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities within their boundaries, such as Israel, India, etc. As a matter of fact, there is no nation-State in the world today, which has not a minority or ethnic group in it. This fact adds an element of political tension and instability in the nation-State, which has, in some cases, led to revolts and national liberation struggles, such as those of the Tamils in Sir Lanka, of Sikhs in India, of the Blacks in South Africa, or the Christians in Sudan or of the Palestinians in Israel.
Legalism:
Modern State is based upon law. Law means a general rule of external conduct, passed and enforced by the State. Law is an instrument of social control to prevent conflict, violence, and crimes in society over such matters as property, life and limb, honour and individual or group interests. But law cannot exist without the coercive authority of the State and its administrative and judicial systems. In other words, laws are authoritative norms, made and enforced by the State. As such, law is a Statement of rights and duties of the citizens.
Law is, however, a modern concept, especially with regard to its two aspects: legislative enactment and universal enforcement. It is applied to citizens regardless of differences of class, social status, wealth or rank. Subordination to law of all the people, whether rich or poor, high or low, is known as Rule of Law. In the past ages, law was not taken in this sense. In ancient times, law was only the custom upheld by the king’s authority. It had really originated in the tribes and local communities, which later came to be ruled by the kings or the like. In such conditions, the very idea of law being made by a legislative body was unknown. Moreover, law was then considered to apply to human as well as to non-human beings. Furthermore, law and morality were then not clearly distinguished.
Modern State and law have grown together. This development really began when the legislative system, acquired the exclusive power to make laws, first in English Parliament during the eighteenth century. Later on, other European States also set up their legislative bodies, variously called as National Assembly as in France, Congress as in the U.S.A., Reichstag or Bundestag as in, Germany, or Cortes as in Spain, etc. In the twentieth century, when independent and sovereign States came into being in Asia and Africa, they too set up their own legislative bodies, named differently.
For instance, in India and Pakistan, where the British tradition is still very strong, it is usually called Parliament; in Iran it is called Majlis, and so on. It may be mentioned, however, that the sources of laws lies not in the legislative organ of the State, but in the social, economic, cultural, historical and other conditions, norms and values of the people and in their ordinary day-to-day experiences and interactions.