What is the source of legitimate authority for the state or government?
Complete ONE of the two essay questions below and transmit back to me.
The expectation is that these are formal essays. That means an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. General rule for the main body is that the number of paragraphs corresponds to the number of points being made.
(1) What is the source of legitimate authority for the state or government? Typically, such a justification explains why the state should exist, and to some degree scopes the role of government – what a legitimate state should or should not be able to do. There is no single, universally accepted answer: explore the answers given by a sampling of major political philosophers.
(2) John Locke maintained that the ownership of private property is a natural right of every individual and that this right pre-existed government – i.e. without protection of one's private property, other rights would have little meaning. What do you think about Locke’s position? Furthermore, Hegel believed that the state (i.e. the government) is a necessary precondition for the exercise of rights. How would Hegel’s position alter your thinking about property rights? In the end, who makes a more compelling case, Locke or Hegel, and whose position is more beneficial to modern society?
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Government and its source of legitimate authority is a topic that has always elicited debate. It is easy to say that government is essential because it helps to create order. However, even ancient philosophers such as Aristotle argued that the three most common systems of government are ineffective and that states would shift from one to the other in an unending cycle. This paper seeks to explain why the state should exist and what it should and should not do.
As stated, the state is essential because it helps to create order. Without any form of government, there would be no structure through which laws were established and executed. It is, therefore, upon the government to mobilize resources to oversee the drafting and execution of laws. At the same time, the government has to punish those who...