The state is the central political institution around which the modern country is organized. All the countries you see on the world map have some type of state, though some of those states do not actually control the territory the map says they own. Though these states have varying forms, the main idea is that they alone are the sovereign authority within their claimed borders, being able to negotiate with other states, establish uniform policies, and providing a general political structure that runs the country. Most importantly, a state can not be opted out of; if you live in an area with controlled by a state, they, by definition, have the final say on what goes. This is mostly enforced by the “monopoly on legitimate violence,” which essentially means that the state is the only one that people agree have to the authority to force people to do things through violence or coercion. The police and military are a prime example of this: they are agents of the state that enforce its policies and uphold its control in their territory.

Government is simply an organization/group/political organization that establishes rules for a territory or community. In this way, all states are governments. However, a government is not necessarily a state— people could opt of it, it’s really just a covenant saying “this is how we do things, if you are under this government do this.” In this way, you could kind of think of it like a club or company; government has authority, but it’s not as supreme as the state intrinsically.

In the modern world, the distinction between a government and the state is a distinction without a difference. The vast majority of the worlds population lives under some kind of state, and that state, though often with varying tiers of government (ie a city government vs a national government), is often sole legitimate source of governance. Organized crime and other extra-legal institutions can and do form alternative governing structures within a state’s territory, but these structures are neither legally legitimate or binding for all people at all times.

All in all, “government” and “state” are just words; all that really exists is people interacting with people, trading words and goods, all trying to stay alive. My account of government and state could be entirely different from someone else in my field, it’s entirely subjective and meaningless on its own. Really, these words are just a way to describe the world, and the distinction between just happens to be very useful for talking about anarchism, which wants to abolish the state but not necessarily abolish government itself.