 Dear students, in this module, we are going to discuss government and state, particularly what are the functions of state. So, the state is a political entity that exercises authority over a defined territory and population. The functions of the state can include maintaining order in society, providing public goods and services, and regulating the economic activity. Since the state is a political entity, it has a fixed or defined political boundary in which the people who live in the territory through their use of authority or exercise of power decide how they will spend their lives, how their economic life will be, how their political life will be, what their education system will be, and how they will spend their lives. So, on the whole, what your state is, it formulates policies to regulate all your daily tasks. The state can take many forms ranging from democratic to authoritarian and can be shaped by the variety of factors including culture, history, and ideology. Life ideology has an important role in this. As we see, the constitution of Pakistan is based on Islamic ideology, and if we look at the constitution of a western country, it is based on secular life ideology. So, life ideology has a significant impact on your political policy. Similarly, in Pakistan, the state is considered responsible for a wide range of functions, including defence, law enforcement, education, and healthcare. So, all these functions which have to be performed by the state, whenever we talk about these issues, and when we talk about these issues, we are talking about who is responsible for these issues. So, obviously, the majority of these issues are the government or state. The relationship between the state and civil society is complex, with tensions between too often arising over questions of power, legitimacy, and accountability. So, between the state and civil society, there is always a tussle or a conflict situation. People often argue that the kind of mandate the government provided by the state, the state is not able to perform properly, the expectations of the people are not complete. That is why there is a continuous state of conflict between the government and civil society. Understanding the functions and limitations of the state is essential for analysing the political systems and their effects on individuals and societies. So, as a social scientist, the study of state requires a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating the perspectives from sociology, political science, and economics. And most of the scholars have debated the nature of the state and its relationship to other social phenomena, such as culture, economics, and power. So, if we have to understand the state and its functions, then we have to look at a multidisciplinary approach. We cannot look at it from a sociological lens, we have to look at it from the point of view of economics, from the point of view of political science, and from the point of view of history, that after all, what are the historical roots of this state, and how it has reached this stage by establishing an evolutionary process. In addition to that, the study of state can shed light on the questions of governance, democracy, and social justice, as well as the ways in which individuals and groups can mobilize to achieve their goals. So, the balance between individual and their life goals is also responsible for the state. It is also responsible for the basic rights of the individual. That is why we have to look at whether the functions of the state are being performed in this given context or not. In addition to that, the tussles of an individual versus a state, we also have to look at and analyze whether there is a major gap in the state and the individual, that how an individual is perceiving the functions of the state, how it can be mitigated. By analyzing the complexities of the state, we gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which individuals and societies navigate the challenges of collective action and decision-making. So, we have to look at the decision-making process, collective action, and especially its reflection is seen in the policies of the government. So, it's a fool for thought for you that you can do a content analysis of any government policy that has been made about the people and you can see whether that policy ensures the rights of the individual or our collective.