WHAT IS STATE AND FEATURES OF A STATE

State can be difined as a politically organised body people inhabiting a definite geographical territory with an organized government. A state can be defined as a combination of nations,  and the nation in its own definition means the union of people who believe that they are politically united and culturally have a mutual understanding that is, they all come from the same place and the belief that the intervention of any other culture can alter their union,  all nations have one believe and their system might damage their reputation and will lead to chaos or misunderstanding among them of which can destroy out the nation itself. 

State is like a federal system of government because it combines a lot of cultures together for instance united states of america has the combination of many states that comes together to form it as a federation, becoming a federation means that you are a state and being a state means that you've combine different sort of belief, idea, values, ethnic groups, and languages together to form one. Countries like Nigeria with over 250 languages but with the official language and as English  language is seen as a state and not a nation because there is no clear-cut language that is been speak apart from the official one introduced to them.

A state is more preferred to a nation because in a state there is the accommodation of different forms of culture and belief, perspective, and idea and so on, although there might be some problem in a state things like language barrier, ethnic differences, sentiments, ethnicity, and other form of tribalism and favoritism all this might come up as a result of the difference in idea and belief of the people living in a particular geographical entity.

The power of the state is also guaranteed with great power to secure obedience from the citizens. A state is different from empires, kingdom, chieftains and so on Nigeria, ghana, benin republic, usa and canada are good example of states.

FEATURES OF A STATE

1. PERMANENCE : the state remains a permanent feature, the state is a very permanent thing that must be, a state being permanent means it will exist for life not even a long time it is existing for life because people died and they give birth to new people to administer it functions and control it so people are elected to be the leaders of a particular state and from here then state continues and receives permanent through people Living in it. Government can change many times but a state remains permanent.
2. A DEFINED TERRITORY : a state as a defined territory with a limit to its size, the must always be a border that will always bother a particular country from another showing that this clear cut defined territory belongs to a particular people of this state and from there they wouldn't be conflict or the crisis of border, define territory in a country is being recognised by many because people know from other part of the world that this particular border on land is mainly for this particular set of people and which must not be fight on because it is their heritage and the place they reside. It must have clear divine boundaries, separating it from others. Things like water, mountains, forest, air space and so on make up the state.
3. GOVERNMENT : government is a machinery set up by the state to control it affairs and administer its functions, with government in a country or a state we believe that everything goes smoothly because they are part of the country which is being run by the government, although government is not a permanent features of a state but it remains the only thing that can help it control it and fair and administer all its functions that makes it good and okay to stay in because there is no land that doesnt get visited by foreigners and this foreigners are those people that the report on how good a particular country is for more people to always keep visiting,  and from visiting and diplomacy with a state, it really helps in terms of country need because a country cannot be an island of knowledge, from here the mighty country help through diplomacy with other countries, the government of a particular country serve as a vital weapon and instrument that can help the state push it forward to the next level that the country needs to be seen in.
4. SOVEREIGNTY :  sovereignty  is the supreme power of government over the citizen of a particular country, just like as we can say that God is supreme to all nature, so as the government is supreme to all the citizen inhabiting a particular state,  sovereignty also substained in meaning to mean that a country is totally free and not being colonized by any other countries of the world of which make it independent of itself and has sovereignty  over internal and external aggression or people that might want to over take it. Supreme power to make decision and enforced same on the people is with the state. The sovereignty of a state is not negotiable and must be free from external influence and control. 
5. POPULATION : this part is self-explanatory, it means that without people inhabiting a particular place,  there is no how we can call it a country or a state the population really matters a lot for a place to become a state or a defined territory which gathers peoples together with a definite or indefinite government, this is an important attribute of a state. For in state to be called a state, there must be a given number of people making up the entity. However most colonizers make preparation for these before the independent of the state, the colonized state and the third world countries enjoy this privilege even after independence, with term, such number is bound to increase in the society through birth rate. 
6. RECOGNITION  : before a state can be called a state it must be well recognised by other countries and other states in the word, a state must be recognised both internally and externally for people to give it the respect and integrity it deserves.