State mechanism and state apparatus: structure and principles

In the science of the state a great place is occupied by the concepts of its apparatus and mechanism. All these activities of officials are based on these phenomena. Depending on the peculiarities of the mechanism and the state apparatus, its legislation, executive power and judicial system are changing.

Concepts

The mechanism of the state is a system of interrelated government bodies that are necessary for the exercise of power and the solution of the tasks of the state. This is the material and organizational power with which to pursue a particular policy. The mechanism of the state differs hierarchy and subordination. It includes a layer of officials - people executing decisions of power.

The term "state apparatus" has two interpretations. In a broader context, it is analogous to the concept of a mechanism. In a more narrow state apparatus is a management apparatus, a system of administrative authorities. It has its own multistage structure, which will be discussed below.

The ratio of the state apparatus and the state mechanism still raises many disputes among lawyers. Often they offer completely opposite interpretations. For example, the idea of the identity of the apparatus and mechanism is popular.

Principles

The modern state mechanism and the state apparatus are based on several key principles. The first of these is the separation of powers (executive, legislative and judicial). Thanks to him, a system of checks and balances is maintained in the state. In this framework, no branch of power can receive a privileged position of paramount importance.

It is important not only the system, but also the people inside it. Officials must meet the principle of competence and professionalism. In the government, you can not use unqualified administrators. This rule denotes another regularity. Every professional has his own narrow field of activity, and he must work within this framework. This means that a specialist in the field of agriculture can not become the head of the Ministry of Finance. If such personnel rotation does take place, the official will surely do great harm, even guided by the best wishes for the country and others.

The next principle is the principle of openness and transparency in the activities of the state. It can include the right of citizens to participate in general referendums and thus abolish decisions of the authorities. No less important is the principle of legality.

Hierarchy

Within the framework of an effective system, the state mechanism and the state apparatus should function according to the principle of centralism and a strict hierarchy. This means that each authority executes decisions of higher authorities and reports to them on their successes. Subordination can only be vertical, and can be vertical and horizontal. An example of the latter case: an industrial territorial body is accountable to a higher territorial body and at the same time to a higher-level sectoral body.

The state mechanism and the state apparatus can work according to a collegial and individual principle. If a decision is made by one person, this greatly speeds up the procedure and reduces costs, but makes them more one-sided. In collegial discussions, the approach becomes balanced and compromise. At the same time, such government bodies face many organizational difficulties. The decision is taken longer, bureaucratic delays make the process more expensive. Therefore, each state in different proportions combines these two principles (single and collegial).

The authorities today in most countries are formed according to the principle of democracy and popular representation. Access to posts and elections is the same for all, regardless of nationality, religion or other personal characteristics. If the state mechanism embodies all of the above principles, it acquires additional integrity, unity and purposefulness.

Structure

Any state apparatus has its own structure - the order of the structure and location of the hardware links, which clearly demonstrates how the administrative machine develops. In each country, it is an integral system consisting of many subsystems. These are state bodies that have their own functions, immediate goals, internal structure, and so on.

These subsystems can be divided into several groups. The most important are government bodies, judicial bodies and prosecutors. They are carriers of three main types of power: judicial, executive and legislative.

State organs (subsystem of the general state apparatus) are isolated links of the chain, but they have the same features. These institutions have their own legal status, which determines their competence and authority and operates within certain legal limits. Since each body carries out public work, the government allocates it with material resources, defined in a line in the budget.

Democracy and supremacy of executive power

The concept of "the structure of the state machinery of the apparatus" does not imply universal solutions. Each country has its own system of administration and bureaucracy, based on the historical and legal peculiarities of a particular society. There is no unity among the theoretical scientists. There are different models: in some state bodies are equal, in others strict subordination is accepted.

One of the solutions to the problem of the structure of the state apparatus is the idea of democracy. Theoretically, the modern democratic model was expounded and explained by the English materialist thinker John Locke, who lived in the 17th century.

The mechanism, the apparatus of state power in the totalitarian countries are stacked differently. For example, in the fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, the supremacy of executive power over all its other branches dominated. Such a configuration necessarily leads to a dictatorship and destroys the democratic foundations of the state.

Today the concepts of "state apparatus", "state mechanism" have a lot of interpretations. This is due to the fact that each country has its own political system. One of the most popular concepts of the state apparatus is the identification of power and the state. This idea was formulated in due time by the German thinker Friedrich Engels. He believed that first society creates a state for itself to protect its own internal and external interests, and then the state becomes independent in relation to this very society.

Legislation and the executive branch

What is the peculiarity of each of the main systems of state bodies that are part of the structure of the state apparatus? The legislature formulates and adopts new laws. This opportunity is vested in representative bodies. In democratic states they are the core of the state apparatus. Representative bodies can be divided into higher (parliament) and local territorial. They have different competencies and a resource base. Parliament has the right to delegate some of its powers to the bodies under its control. So there is a system of delegated legislation.

The state mechanism and the state apparatus can not be imagined without executive power, whose bodies perform executive and administrative functions. They act in accordance with the requirements of acts and laws. At the same time, these bodies dispose of their subordinate bodies and organizations and have a certain independence necessary for their own work. This autonomy is a great responsibility to society. It is the executive bodies that carry out legal regulation and manage vital processes within the state. Their tasks are fixed in the ordinary and constitutional legal acts.

Controls

In modern society, the mechanism, the structure of the state apparatus can not do without government. They are divided into two groups. The first is the central authorities, which have powers throughout the country. Their decisions are common for every administrative subject (oblast, state, province, etc.). These are ministries, government, committees, etc. The mechanism of the state and the state apparatus of any country include these bodies.

The second group is local self-government. To it, the bodies responsible for a specific administrative-territorial unit are ranked. These are municipalities, as well as their departments and departments, administrations of important state institutions and enterprises.

The main place in the management system is the government. This is the highest administrative and executive body of the state. The government manages the economy, social and cultural life of the country, develops a budget plan, defends the interests of the state, protects public order, etc. Its activities are regulated by the constitution. The mechanism, the apparatus of the state, state organs - all this is somehow connected with the government.

Courts and Prosecutor's Office

An important part of the state apparatus is the judicial system, which exercises justice and protects the legitimate interests of citizens. It is independent of any other power in the country, its decisions are independent. Together with the judicial system, there is a system of prosecution authorities. What is this concept? The state apparatus, the mechanism of the state and the whole society must comply with the legislation of the country. This is precisely what the prosecutor's office is following. It oversees the execution of laws by state bodies, institutions, enterprises, public organizations, citizens and officials.

The prosecutor's office is also necessary for the observance of legality in the work of the preliminary investigation and in places of imprisonment. This agency monitors the legality of the execution of sentences imposed by the court. The mechanism of the state and the state apparatus are a complex interweaving of the functions of different organs. But it is thanks to this multilateral interaction that correct and effective decisions are made.

Problems of the state apparatus

At the turn of XX-XXI centuries. The traditional model of public administration began to experience a deep crisis. It is caused by citizens' distrust of their own power and officials. In parallel with this, the prestige of the civil service falls. There are several key reasons for these interrelated trends.

First, in a market economy, the private sector offers services to society of a higher quality than those provided by public services. We are talking about medicine, education, urban development, housing construction. State service suffers from bureaucracy, unnecessary expenditure of funds, outdated technology.

The ineffective correlation between the mechanism of the state and the state apparatus is especially noticeable against the backdrop of private companies that are characterized by flexible management, decentralization in management, and small hierarchies. In this system, the lowest echelons of employees take the maximum participation in the life of the corporation. Traditional management in state structures is exactly the opposite: it is known for a lot of superfluous rules, instructions and procedures that make the work of state agencies obsolete.

New trends

Throughout the world, the pressure of civil society on the state is getting more and more perceptible every year. This trend appears even in authoritarian countries. The reason for the changes is the ever greater integration of the world, information and digital revolutions. It is against this backdrop that society requires greater transparency and openness, which the state machinery and state apparatus so need. The ratio of concepts has not changed, but the attitude of people to officials has changed. More and more people do not like the bloated scale of the bureaucracy.

The rethinking of what public service should be is continuing. If before the administration was treated as a power, then today - as a service. And this principle is laid down in many constitutions, where it is stated that the state primarily serves people, and does not rule them. There are new concepts for restructuring the bureaucratic organization. Sometimes they are called innovative. The mechanism of the state, the concept, structure, state apparatus - all this is not static, these phenomena change and with each passing year it is faster.

According to experts, the new bureaucracy differs from the former in that it focuses not on its own interests, but on the interests of society. If earlier the activity of officials was evaluated according to the amount of funds they have mastered and the number of tasks performed before the authorities, in the future the main criterion will be the value of the result of their activity for citizens. And if the state controls the costs of bureaucracy, then society controls what remains "on the way out." The new state should not observe the bone instructions, but change from within in accordance with the trends and requirements of the time. To this end, rapid and accessible bilateral communication with voters is now established in the advanced countries.