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Three Elements of the State

🏛️ Politics & Public Administration By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated
Quick answer: the three elements of the state are territory, people and sovereignty. A state needs a defined area, a population and a supreme authority not subordinate to any other.
Contents
  1. 1. The three-element theory
  2. 2. The elements
  3. 3. Statehood in international law
  4. 4. References

The three-element theory

German jurist Georg Jellinek, in Allgemeine Staatslehre (1900), defined the state by territory, people and state power. Korea's constitution likewise addresses sovereignty, nationals and territory in Articles 1 to 3.

The elements

  • Territory: land, territorial sea (up to 12 nautical miles) and airspace.
  • People: those holding nationality, acquired by descent or by birthplace.
  • Sovereignty: supreme authority internally and independence externally, exercised through the separation of powers.

Statehood in international law

Article 1 of the 1933 Montevideo Convention lists a permanent population, a defined territory, government and capacity to enter relations with other states. Whether recognition creates statehood (constitutive theory) or merely acknowledges it (declaratory theory) remains debated.

References

  1. Jellinek, G. (1900). Allgemeine Staatslehre. O. Häring.
  2. Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (1933), 165 L.N.T.S. 19.
  3. Crawford, J. (2006). The Creation of States in International Law (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Reports and materials that use this theory (Korean)

There are no materials dedicated to this theory yet, but you can search related reports in the CampusDown library (Korean).

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This article was last updated on October 15, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.