The government - a political organization of society, ensuring its unity and integrity, carried out by the state machinery management of public affairs, the sovereign public authority, which gives the value of obligatory law, which guarantees the rights and freedoms of citizens, law and order.

The essence of a philosophical category is important, basic, necessary in a particular phenomenon. Therefore, the essence of the state is that the most characteristic and significant in it that determines its content, social purpose and function.

Without a deep and comprehensive understanding of the nature and essence of the state can not be competent, qualified management. The objective necessity and the practical need for knowledge about the state of the development of society will inevitably prevail over the empirical approach to it and ignorance.

When considering the nature of the state is important to consider two aspects:

1) the fact that any state is an organization of political power (formal aspect);

2) then, whose interests are served, the organization (the content side).

If the analysis of the essence of the state to stay only on the formal side, then turn out that the ancient and the modern slave state are identical in nature. Meanwhile, it is fundamentally wrong.

The main thing in the nature of the state - its content side, in other words, whose interests above all, the organization of political power takes place, which sets the priorities in its policy.

In this connection, you can select a class, all-human, religious, national, racial approach to the essence of the state.

Chronologically, the first to speak class approach, in which the state can be defined as the organization of the political power of the economically dominant class. Here the state is used in the narrow purposes as a means to provide mainly the interests of the ruling class, the layer of a social group. In this case, the priority satisfaction of the interests of any class is a cause of resistance in the other classes.

Hence the problem is in permanent "removal" of this resistance by violence, dictatorship, domination. Slave, feudal, early bourgeois, socialist (at the dictatorship of the proletariat) state largely inherently class act. At the same time universal and other interests in the entity of the states are also present, but they are secondary.

More progressive is common to all mankind (or general social) approach, in which the state can be defined as an organization of political power, which creates the conditions for compromise between the interests of different classes and social groups. Here the state is already in use in the broader purposes as a means to provide mainly the interests of society, concentrating needs of different classes and strata, the majority of the population, using mainly a method such as a compromise.

The state of such an entity without taking the unique class position is used more as a referee, trying to reconcile available in a diverse society, contradictions, conflicts, collisions. Of course, this is still more an ideal than a reality. And countries that have already reached such heights, to date, no. Although there are a number of countries that have made towards achieving this goal much more successful than modern Russia. These states include, for example, Germany, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, the USA, etc.

Along with these major can be isolated and religious, and national and racial, and other approaches to the nature of the state, in which, respectively, religious, national, racial interests will dominate the politics of each country.

As part of a religious state approach can be defined as the organization of political power, facilitating the implementation of the preferential interests of a certain religion. Thus, the Catholic Vatican, Islamic states - Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and others - in their policies are guided largely by religious principles.

As part of the national (nationalist) state approach can be defined as the organization of political power, facilitating the implementation of the preferential interests of the titular nation at the expense of the interests of other nations living in this country.

An example of this may make modern Latvia, Estonia, and others, which he proclaimed himself a democratic constitutional state, in fact (and this is confirmed by international organizations and commissions) is carried out largely in the interests of a policy of indigenous peoples at the same time infringing on the interests of other nations.

We are talking about electoral restrictions on closing Russian schools, the rules concerning the requisite language indigenous nation for public office, to obtain citizenship, promotion, granting pensions, etc.

As part of the state of racial profiling can be defined as the organization of political power, facilitating the implementation of the preferential interests of a particular race due to the interests of other races living in the country. An example of this may be a South Africa during the apartheid regime, the ruling reactionary circles which pursued a policy of racial discrimination against the indigenous African population and largely against migrants from India. In particular, it was shown for the deprivation of civil rights of Africans, they are placed on the reserve or special areas of the city, restrictions on their freedom of movement, etc.

In other words, the multifaceted nature of the state. It is not limited to class, and general social principles. Therefore, the nature of the state, depending on the historical conditions in the foreground may extend any of the above principles.

Social purpose of the state derives its essence. What is the essence of the state, and such is the nature of its activities, are the goals, objectives and functions that it poses