Extra · Start Here — Public, State, Government and Administration

➕

Extra page — background only, not a syllabus item. Read once before I.1 Definitions.

📘

Optional background — skim once (about 3 minutes). Not a separate syllabus item. It only sharpens the first lines of your definition answers.

1. Quick glossary

The public: people collectively, including those affected by a decision, not just voters or customers.
State: the enduring political organisation (population, territory, government, sovereignty). It continues when a cabinet changes.
Government: the institutions and office-holders exercising public authority at a given time. Say whether you mean the executive only or all three branches.
Administration: organising people, rules and resources to do the work.
Public administration: institutions and activities that make, carry out and manage public policy and services under public authority.
Public management: organising resources for results. Governance: how collective decisions are made across institutions (see I.7).

Three branches: legislature makes law · executive implements · judiciary decides disputes.
Minister ≠ secretary: a minister gives political leadership; a secretary is a senior administrative official.
Public servant ≠ party worker: public authority serves lawful public purposes, not partisan favour.
Sovereignty: ultimate authority inside the state and independence outside it, not unlimited power for every official.

Past papers: nothing stored directly; its definitions open answers such as 2018 Q7 and 2022 Q8a.
How to score: define the term, distinguish it from its nearest neighbour, then give one Pakistan example.
Common mistake: using "state" and "government" as if they meant the same thing.
Practice: Distinguish state, government and administration with examples. → three definitions → what continues when a ministry changes → one example.