THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE STATE, GOVERNMENT AND NATION

Ordinary people tend to equate the word “state” and “government” as if they refer to the same reality. They use
the words interchangeably. But a closer look at these two terms reveal a technical difference. A state is an
advanced and complex type of society with the government as one of its four (4) essential elements. Thus a
state cannot exist without a government. As already mentioned, the government is only a part and an agency of
the state which provides economic “government”.

A government can exist even without a state as in the case of non-state societies. A chiefdom in a barangay of
old, for instance, was a political organization with the datu as the chief ruler assisted by a council of elders or
relatives, had a government that it is not necessarily a state. In a modern nation-state, a government is a political
machinery composed of public official who run the affairs of the state using rational-legal authority.

The idea of nationhood is of European origin, particularly from France, the first independent nation-state in
Europe after the French Revolution. Dr. Jose Rizal first introduced this idea through his writings in the 19th
century to mean one identity of all people who are born and residing in the Philippines during the Spanish period
as “Filipinos” whether they are Spaniards, mestizos or natives (Indios). Before Rizal, one must remember that
only those with Spanish blood like the peninsulares (Spaniards who were born in the peninsula or Spain and
residing in the colony), insulares (Spaniards who were born and residing in the Philippines) and mestizos (those
of blood mixed, Spanish, Chinese or other foreigners) were considered Filipinos” and as consisting the “Filipino
nation” during the Spanish period. The natives were not called “Filipinos” by the Spaniards but were looked
down upon as “Indios” or savage “Indians” who generally were uneducated and considered uncivilized

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOVERNMENT

One of the most important elements of the state is the government. A state must have some organizing hold
over its citizenry; otherwise, it would crumble and its territory would soon split apart or be conquered or absorbed
by other nations. In the absence of government, anarchy and chaos reigns and the state soon disintegrates.

Humanity has witnessed various forms of government being instituted by societies and states round the world.
Below are some of the most prominent and popular types
Which Type of Government a better fit for the Philippines: Presidential or Parliamentary? One of the most
controversial issues facing the Philippines in recent years revolved around the choice of the form of
republican government to be adopted in the country. The 1987 Constitution has expressly indicated that the
and disadvantages of adopting the presidential form of government. Some preferred the parliamentary over
the presidential form of government because it was said to be easier to remove the head of government, if
s/he was corrupt, with just a mere vote of confidence of the members of parliament compared to thete
dious process of impeachment. Others pointed out the simplicity and lesser cost in the process of making
laws in a parliamentary form of government. Thus the government can save more money in the treasury. In
Parliamentary form, only one lawmaking body and set of lawmakers would be debating to pass a bill into
law, compared to the two houses or two groups of lawmakers in the presidential type. This would certainly
shorten the duration in making important laws of the land

Despite these advantages of adopting a parliamentary form of government, moves by the incumbent top
officials to change the charter or constitution (or CHACHA for Charter Change) were opposed vehemently
by those who were pro-presidential form. There was a general perception that the change of government
was just a pretext to extend the term of the President and other officials rather than a quest for a more
efficient government. Thus, when the former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her allies in Congress
pushed for charter change to adopt a parliamentary government, many people rejected it and preferred to
maintainthe presidential form.

Before analyzing the costs and benefits of adopting the presidential or parliamentary form of government, it
is important to understand the main difference of these republican or indirect forms of democratic
governments.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY

The republican government or representative democracy became the popular model when nation-states
arose and became popular in the 19th century. It has two forms: the parliamentary and the presidential.
The parliamentary form originated in England, the “Mother of Parliaments” and spread to some parts of
Europe, to New Zealand, India and Malaysia. It became the most popular form of democratic government
with over 100 states operating under the parliamentary form. The presidential form originated in the United
States when it gained independence from England in 1776. Since then, this type of government was
adopted by other countries in the world like Switzerland, Mexico, Indonesia and some Latin American
republics (Zaide 1996:56).

THE DIFFERENCE IN THE HEAD OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT

On the one hand, the head or chief of state generally possesses titular or nominal powers. He or she
largely performs ceremonial functions in the government and often represents the country abroad but does
not possess political powers to directly run the government. The head of government, on the other hand, is
the true chief executive of the country, who directly administers the laws of the land and manages theaffairs
of state.

In a presidential form, the function of the head of the state and the head of government are usually
performed by one person—the president— who is elected nationwide by highest vote. In this case, the
people or the electorate can directly choose their leader. His/her term is fixed by law and can only be
removed involuntarily by impeachment. In the Philippines, the President serves for six (6) years without re-
election.

In a parliamentary form, which is can be classified into two—the traditional type and the
French type—the head of state of the traditional type is the President while in the French type it
is the Prime Minister. Both of them are appointed and can be removed by the Parliament by
majority vote of its members—the MPs or Members of the Parliament. The head of the
government of the traditional type is the Prime Minister who is elected by the majority members
of the Parliament or MPs as in the case of Malaysia, Indonesia or Singapore. Usually s/he comes
from the ruling party who controls the number of MPs in the Parliament. The term of the Prime
Minister is indefinite, as long as the majority of the MPs have confidence in his/her leadership.
S/he can, however, be removed by a vote of non-confidence by the majority members of the
Parliament.

For the French type which is the case in France today, the head of government is the President who is
chosen by highest vote in a national election with a fixed term and with re-election. The Prime Minister in
France exercises minimal policy-making powers and performs more ceremonial functions. The President
runs the government and serves two terms. In the 2012 national election, the French President Nicolas
Sarkoshy was defeated by Francois Hollade after his first term

A STRONGER LEGISLATIVE BRANCH IN PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT

The main difference between the presidential and parliamentary forms of government lies in the allocation
of powers between the executive and legislative branch. In the presidential form, the executive branch’s
power is running the country and is separate and independent from the legislative branch. The President
appoints the members of his/her cabinet who is usually non- members of the legislature. There are only a
few cases when a senator or congressman is appointed by the President as a cabinet member—in such a
case the appointed legislator has to resign from his elected post. In the parliamentary form, the legislative
and executive are fused or merged, because the members of the cabinet are also members of the
legislature and the ruling party. The cabinet members who run the major departments of the government
are first elected as members of the parliament (MPs), the party with the highest number of seats in the
parliament elects the Prime Minister and cabinet members among themselves. Usually, the leader of the
ruling party which gained majority seats in the parliament is elected as the Prime Minister, who has no fixed
term and may continue to exercise power as long as s/he continues to enjoy the confidence of the majority
members of the parliament. If the Prime Minister loses the vote of confidence in parliament, the cabinet
members are obliged to resign. The parliament is dissolved and a new parliamentary election is held.
Those who aspire to become Prime Minister does not have to run in a national election, all s/he has to do is
to win the votes of his/her district and constituency and when elected as a member of the parliament must
win the vote of the other members to be elected as the Prime Minister (Zaide 1996:55).

BICAMERAL LEGISLATION FOR PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT

The presidential form has a bicameral legislation like in the case of the Philippines. It has two houses which
make laws or statutes: the Senate composed of 24 senators as the Upper House and the House of
Representatives, the Lower House, composed of more than 250 districts and party-list
congressmen/women. A bill or proposed law undergoes a long and tedious process passing through these
two houses before it is signed by the President as a law. In the parliamentary form, lawmaking seems less
complex as only one house and set of legislators are assigned to tackle the bill before being signed into law
by the Prime Minister in the traditional parliamentary form or by the President in the French form.