Political Theory with Professor Alexandre Lefebvre; Liberalism and Legitimacy

Subfields of political science?

-          Australian

-          Comparative – comparing different systems

-          International Relations – relations between different countries

-          Political theory ?

Definition of political theory:

study of the fundamental ideas of politics, and also of the historical record of political thought. Very old

The two main kinds of political theory:

There are two main kinds of political theory:

– Descriptive political theory: describes key political ideas, e.g., power, ideology, law, sovereignty, the people, etc. Cares about how politics works.

Trying to explain, analyse.

– Normative political theory: advocates for key moral ideas in politics, e.g., justice, fairness, right, merit, etc.

Cares about how politics SHOULD be – how it could be if it lived up to what it should be.

Timeline of Western Political Thought?

– Ancient: 500 BC – 500 AD: Greek and Roman thought
– Medieval: 500 AD – 1532: Christian political thought
– Modern: 1532 (Machiavelli’s The Prince) – 1950
– Contemporary: 1950 – Present

What are the four big modern developments in politics?

1. State sovereignty

2. Capitalism

3. Democracy

4. Liberalism

What is the state sovereignty development?

the world is carved up into exclusive territories, each of
which has a political authority that is supreme within its borders.
Origin: 1648, Treaty of Westphalia; when each country has its own ruler, no more church.

What is the capitalism development?

an economic system where (most) means of production are privately
owned, and where production is guided and income distributed via the operation of markets.

What is the democracy development?

political authority and governance is established and legitimated
through universal suffrage. Rise of representative democracy (in contrast to direct democracy). We delegate to our representatives to whom we hold accountable 

What is the liberalism development?

a political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of the individual to be the main goal and problem of politics.

Where did liberalism originate?

Liberalism is a relatively recent political ideology.
First used in 1812 in Spain, then commonplace in Europe and North America by 1820s.

In the face of what new social forces did liberalism emerge?

1. Capitalism
2. Democracy
i. As a political threat: extremism and tyranny of the
majority;
ii. As a psychological threat: culture would be reduced to the lowest common
denominator.

What was felt to be the psychological threat that spurred liberalism?

That culture would be reduced to the lowest common denominator

As a reaction to democracy, most institutions of liberalism were created. These are called:

Counter-majoritorian

The main institutions of liberalism include:

– Individual rights
– Division of powers
– Rule of law
– Judicial neutrality and independence
– Judicial Review
– Protections for tolerance and pluralism
– Progressive taxation (though this is in response to capitalism)

What is the ultimate purpose of the institutions of liberalism?

Ultimately, these all serve to prevent a majority and the threat of an outside vs inside majority.

What are the five strands of liberalism?

1. Liberalism as restrained government power

2. Liberalism as free markets and economic interactions

3. Liberalism as human progress

4. Liberalism as equality and state regulated welfare

   1. Liberalism as pluralism and tolerance

Main ideas and institutions of liberalism as restrained government power?

1. Liberalism as restrained government power;

To protect us from the exercise of power: the majority will.

– Key idea: limit state power.
– Key institutions: rule of law, division of powers, individual rights.
– Key authors: Locke, American ”founding fathers”, Berlin, Shklar.

Main ideas and institutions of liberalism as free markets and economic interactions?

2. Liberalism as free markets and economic interactions;

Markets allocate reward and prices much more fairly than governments

– Key idea: freedom and prosperity of citizens via economic activity.
– Key institutions: freedom of contract, open markets.
– Key authors: Scottish Enlightenment (Hume, Smith), libertarianism,
neoliberalism.

Main ideas and agents of liberalism as human progress?

Empowers people to live life by their own lives. But people need education, etc. So,

– Key idea: provide freedom and support for individuals to become the
best version of themselves, and thus improve humankind.
– Key institutions: schools, universities, cultural industries (museums, art,
free press, etc.).
– Key authors: Wollstonecraft, Hegel, Mill

Main ideas and institutions of liberalism and equality and state regulated warfare:

– Key idea: the liberal state guarantees all its citizens equality of opportunity.
– Key institutions: progressive taxation, social services (e.g., public hospitals, public
schools, etc.).
– Key authors: Rawls, “liberal egalitarians”, Piketty

Key ideas and institutions of liberalism as pluralism and tolerance?

– Key idea: the liberal state is not based on any thick conception of the good
life.
– Key institutions: freedoms of speech and opinion, immigration, internationalism.
– Key authors: Milton, Locke, Voltaire, multi-cultural liberals

What is legitimacy?

Legitimacy

-          Definition: Recognition of the right to govern.

-          Legitimacy, then, is about justifying political power and obedience to it.

It is the conviction they care for us, and that is why we listen to government.

John Locke’s solution to democracy?

Solution: If from the first person perspective, the person honestly believes it, then it is legitimate. It must have the consent of the governed.

What is the concept of the State of Nature in political theory?

The state of nature (SoN) in political theory

A concept to explore hypothetical pre-social conditions where individuals exist without organized government.

Rooted in human nature

What does Hobbes believe the state of nature to be like?

Chaotic and violent

What does Locke believe the State of Nature to be like?

Free and equal

Quote from Locke about the state of nature?

“Men living together according to reason, without a common superior on earth, with authority to judge between them, is properly the state of nature” (§19).

So essentially, when does the State of Nature exist?

= SoN exists when:
1. There is no shared temporal authority (i.e., no authority here on earth) able to judge/adjudicate disputes;
2. People live according to reason (peaceful)

-          Thus, the state of nature is not a political society because there is no common judge

-          But it’s also not a ‘state of war’, because they’re living peacefully and respecting eachother.

No more state of nature when there is authority.

What are the other two states of nature?

1. Absolute sovereigns (We have no recourse to adjudicate with the sovereign. If the others are bought off, there is nobody to cause conflict. The state of nature is unstable)

2. International relations (anarchical)

What are the three different states of nature?

Three different states of nature
1. Pre-political or “primitive” societies.
2. Contemporary absolute states.
3. Relations between sovereign states

For Locke, there are three qualities for the state of nature:

1.      Individual freedom

2.      A state of equality because everyone is free

3.      It is a state of harmony, because the “law of nature” limits freedom.

HOBBES ON THE STATE OF NATURE:

A war of all against all. A corruption of natural law….

“and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”

The ‘natural law’ in three easy steps:

Natural Law in Three (easy) Steps
– Step 1. Look around. Observe regular and universal patterns of nature (e.g., self-preservation). Data gathering
– Step 2. From those observations, figure out God’s intention towards His creation. Reverse engineer what God’s will must be given this observable data that we have.
– Step 3. Formulate human-made (“positive”) laws that are in line with God’s intentions. Form political communities that will generate and are in alignment with God’s intentions.

In response to this,

“-          Locke says all people are equal. Nobody has authority to subjugate eachother; we are all equal.

-          Problem with the state of nature: people are bad and there’s always the chance to slip into a state of war.

-          A lack of independent authorities to adjudicate and execute the law of nature.”

What must humanity do?

Create the Commonwealth.

“Thus mankind, notwithstanding all the privileges of the
state of nature, being but in an ill condition, while they
remain in it, are quickly driven into [political] society”

What does the Commonwealth do?

-          It calls for an external group of equality whereby people realise how dodgy rulers are and unstable.

What does the State of Nature Lack? And how does the Commonwealth remedy these?

It lacks three things we need to remedy:

“[In the state of nature there lacks] an established, settled, known law received and allowed by common consent to be the standard of right and wrong” (§124).
– CW provides a legislature.

“In the state of nature there wants a known and indifferent judge with authority to determine all differences according to the established law” (§125).
– CW provides a judiciary.

“In the state of nature there often wants power to back and support the sentence when right, and to give it due execution”
(§126).
– CW provides an executive

Commonwealth as a solution to human limitation

1. We can't judge impartially in our own case (we're inherently prejudiced).
2. We can't enforce the law of nature (we're inherently weak).
3. We don't always know the law of nature (we're inherently ignorant).

Point of the State:

– SoN gives CW its basic principle: Preserve the property of each of its members.
– CW remedies the defects of the SoN by providing a legislature, executive,
and judiciary.

The relationship between the state of nature and commonwealth:

1. The state of nature gives the commonwealth its basic principle: preserve the property of each of its members

   2. Commonwealth removes the defects of the state of war by providing a legislature, executive and judiciary

What is the primary concern of contemporary liberalism?

The protection of individual rights and interests and governments are there to protect these

In the old times, what did liberalism mean?

Liberalism meant to do the right thing for the greater good

Basic summary of the history of liberalism as a concept:

Ancient times: ‘mutual helpfulness’, ‘giving and recieving’, metaphor of the Three Graces

Medieval Rearticulations: liberality was inflused with ideas of justice and goodwill, kindness = Christian values of love, compassion and charity

Renaissance: Continued to be aristocratic or princely valjue, and was a sign of elevating onesself above the ‘ignorable’ crowd. Machiavelli: would warn that a liberal prince should not spend beyond his means because that would only drain his resources, raise taxes, oppress and provoke his people.

Protestantism: not only giving but knowledge and wisdom. There will always be the poor. Give enough but not too much to lower your rank.

American Exceptionalism → generosity, morality and civil valued.

Enlightenment: would transform to disdain of the poor

Locke argued that because man can act ethically, there was no need for an

absolute monarch. Humanity was capable of knowing an following a moral law.

Hence, according to Locke, man could only live under

a limited, constitutional monarchy characterised by a significant amount of self government