Western Political Theory Social Sciences Essay Paper

WESTERN POLITICAL CULTURE
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Western Political Culture
1 Social Contrast
Several philosophers contributed to the political culture of the western world. Among them were John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Rousseau, who concentrated on social contrast. Hobbes believed that human beings are destructive and needed a government to offer them security against themselves and others as well. He promoted dictatorship, stating that the government needed to fulfill its duties even if it has to use force. At the same time, Locke asserted that people are natural beings and have natural rights that no one can take away. However, he postulates that people can choose to give away some of their rights to a body of governance to be able to enjoy them even more. Rousseau, on the other hand, implies that freedom is a characteristic that is part of the human being not to give it away freely. He also adds that giving away certain rights such as the liberty to any government makes people become slaves to the government automatically. This paper focuses on John Locke’s philosophy of social contrast because of his view of humans as free natural beings.
John Locke
John Locke, who lived between 1932 and 1704, is a well-known figure in global society due to his untainted philosophy on social contrast. He claimed that human beings are naturally free beings and not under any form of rule or monarchy, as many other philosophers have argued. He added that in their natural state, humans have natural laws that they can obey to ensure order in society. These natural laws, unlike other acts such as state laws, apply to all people regardless of the place or time they may be living. The natural laws are also not based on the agreements or opinions that people may have about them. Another element of natural laws that Locke presents is that it can easily be known by applying reason; so that through logic, people can understand what is right and what is wrong.[Bërdufi, Nertil, and Desara Dushi. "Social contract and the governments legitimacy." Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 6, no. 6 S1 (2015): 392.] [Inoguchi, Takashi, and Lien Thi Quynh Le. "Toward modelling a global social contract: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke." Japanese Journal of Political Science 17, no. 3 (2016): 489-522.]
Locke also insisted that human beings have rights that are meant to make them live a comfortable life, which is naturally independent of any other law that society may form. These three fundamental rights are the right to life, the right to property, and the right to liberty. In his concepts of politics, Locke believed that humans were free beings, and as such, they did not need to be ruled or commanded by anyone. However, he insists that there is a system of social contrast that has bloomed in the society. In this system, people who are naturally free may choose to allocate some of their rights to the government as a representative who is to ensure that they live even more comfortable lives, and be able to enjoy their fundamental rights even better.[Bërdufi, Nertil, and Desara Dushi. "Social contract and the governments legitimacy." Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 6, no. 6 S1 (2015): 392.]
Locke, on the other hand, insists that the only right that people give up to the government is the right to punish wrongdoers who may violate their rights. Locke argues that should the government fail to punish the criminals, then the people have the right to withdraw their rights and, as a result, take the law into their own hands. Also, he presented the principle that “people should not be judges in their cases.” He did so by explaining that people can only prove that the government has failed to render them justice if the grieved people, along with third-party members, acknowledge the wrong that the government did. By so stating, Locke speaks against anarchy and instead, promotes the establishment of ad hoc groups to make known to the government its failures. The government, therefore, ought to present standard rules along which they are to punish wrongdoers.
In Two Treatises of Government, Locke also presents the limitations of the government by asserting that the government must work per the laws that exist to humans in nature. First, is that the only right that people vest to the government is to punish wrongdoing, then the latter is exclusively entitled to punishing wrongs done and nothing else. Secondly, the government can only punish transgressions that deserve to be punished and not commit injustice in any way. These same wrongs are just the same that the free human in nature would consider wrong, and therefore, the definition of wrongdoing that the government uses should be the same as that which people in free nature uses. This point means that the legislative branch of the government can only make laws that are following those of nature.[Bërdufi, Nertil, and Desara Dushi. "Social contract and the governments legitimacy." Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 6, no. 6 S1 (2015): 392.]
Another aspect that Locke brings out is the aspect of separation of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of the government. By so doing, Locke concludes that the three will be able to denote their separate functions and, therefore, work for the good of the people who formed them. He further states the features of the legislature to be making laws. Similarly, the judiciary to be the interpretation of the law as well as its implementation. At the same time, the executive works to ensure that the two branches have enough resources to accomplish their tasks. Locke also prefers the separation of these powers because he believes that when they are so, they can check each other and ensure that each of the branches is in the right tracks.[Inoguchi, Takashi, and Lien Thi Quynh Le. "Toward modelling a global social contract: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke." Japanese Journal of Political Science 17, no. 3 (2016): 489-522.] [Simmons, A. John. "Locke on the social contract." A Companion to Locke 96 (2015): 413.]
All in all, Locke has contributed mainly to the western political culture through his understanding of the issues relating to social contrast. He made people understand their rights as the owners of the government and not its subjects. It also enabled them to understand their power and rights regarding the making and dissolution of the government. Similarly, he spelled out the different roles and limitations of the various arms of governments, which enabled the people to understand them as well. Indeed Locke was a great man who, through his philosophy on Social Contrast, brought out many facts that helped shape the western political culture concerning their understanding of the government.
2 Analytical Methods
Edmund Burke, Karl Marx, and Machiavelli shaped the western political practices through their philosophies. Machiavelli took the stand that human beings were selfish ev...