scholarly journals The Lockean Prerogative, Natural Law, and Political Power

Locke Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Philipp Schönegger
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
General Public ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Natural Power

In this paper, I argue that Lockean prerogative power is political and not natural. After introducing two arguments in favour of the notion of prerogative as a natural power I offer two arguments contra this view. First, I claim that Locke’s conception of executive power is not unitary; rather, he distinguishes between natural and political executive power. Second, I distinguish two types of public good; the general public good and the specific public good. Drawing on these two distinctions, I respond to the arguments in favour of a natural prerogative and argue that they fail.

Reformation, Resistance, and Reason of State (1517-1625)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Mortimer
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Reason Of State ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Ideas

The period 1517–1625 was crucial for the development of political thought. During this time of expanding empires, religious upheaval, and social change, new ideas about the organization and purpose of human communities began to be debated. In particular, there was a concern to understand the political or civil community as bounded, limited in geographical terms and with its own particular structures, characteristics, and history. There was also a growing focus, in the wake of the Reformation, on civil or political authority as distinct from the church or religious authority. To explain these new ideas about political power, the concept of sovereignty began to be used, alongside a new language of reason of state. Yet political theories based upon religion still maintained significant traction, particularly claims for the divine right of kings. In the midst of these developments, the language of natural law became increasingly important as a means of legitimizing political power; natural law provided a rationale for earthly authority that was separate from Christianity and its use enabled new arguments for religious toleration. This book offers a new reading of early modern political thought, drawing on a wide range of sources from Europe and beyond. It makes connections between Christian Europe and the Muslim societies that lay to its south and east, showing the extent to which concerns about the legitimacy of political power were shared. It demonstrates that the history of political thought can both benefit from, and remain distinctive within, the wider field of intellectual history.

Executive Power and the Passion for Virtue

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harvey C. Mansfield
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Sheldon Wolin ◽  
Human Side ◽  
As If ◽  
Working Backwards

To be taken seriously is the hope of a serious author, next to which being agreed with is a petty affair. If this sentiment sounds inhuman, and too good to be true, it is because it abstracts from the desire for recognition, which can take the form of desire for political power. Sheldon Wolin takes my book Taming the Prince1 seriously as—as if it were!—an important political influence. He flatters the all-too-human side of my soul by fastening on the book's conclusion and working backwards from that.

scholarly journals Power and Resistance: A Case Study of Satire on the Internet

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijun Tang ◽  
Syamantak Bhattacharya
Keyword(s):  
General Public ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Power Relation ◽  
Symbolic Power ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Power And Resistance ◽  
Resistance To Power ◽  
A Chain ◽  
A Site

Past studies on print and TV satire have revealed that satire can be seen as a site of resistance to power. In light of this, interesting questions can be raised regarding Internet satire: what does the Internet contribute to the resistance and what kind of power relation is played out on this site? Using an example from China, this paper reveals that like its print and TV counterparts, Internet satire reflects a widespread feeling of powerlessness, rather than offering the general public any political power. However, the Internet helps to push the symbolic power of satire to a higher level. This is because it makes satire a tool for the grassroots which facilitates the creation and spread of satirical ideas, and also helps to release and stimulate the enormous reserve of public wit and wisdom. As a result, satire on the Internet has the potential to generate a chain of related satirical work, which can create a satire movement and subject power to sustained shame and ridicule.

Jurisprudence, historical

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Stein
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Scottish Enlightenment ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
The Will

Historical jurisprudence is the title usually given to a group of theories, which flourished mainly in the nineteenth century, that explain law as the product of predetermined patterns of change based on social and economic change. It is thus opposed both to theories that see law as essentially an expression of the will of those holding political power (positivist theories) and to those that see it as an expression of principles that are part of man’s nature and so applicable in any kind of society (natural law theories). The writers of the Scottish Enlightenment first connected the historical development of law with economic changes. In the nineteenth century, Savigny and Maine postulated grand evolutionary schemes, which purported to be applicable universally. They were, however, based on the development of ancient Roman law and could only with difficulty be applied to other systems. These schemes are now discredited, but in the twentieth century more modest studies have successfully related particular kinds of law to particular sets of social circumstances.

German Catholicism in 1933

2020 ◽  
pp. 77-104
Author(s):  
Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde ◽  
Mirjam Künkler ◽  
Tine Stein
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Culture War ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
Church Organization ◽  
Strong Connection ◽  
Public Controversy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
The Church

Böckenförde examines here why almost the entire leadership of organized Catholicism in Germany, that is both of the Church organization and Catholic societal associations, became complicitous in and sometimes actively helped Hitler amend the constitution and dismantle the democratic state. Böckenförde identifies three main reasons for this sudden transformation: the legacy of the Prussian Culture War (Kulturkampf), the dominance of natural law in Catholic thought, and the inherent anti-liberalism of the Catholic magisterium. Since the Kulturkampf, Catholic citizens felt alienated from the state, chose to withdraw into “inner emigration” and rallied around matters of personal faith, issues internal to the Church, and questions of religious schooling, each of which had a strong connection to natural law and—although specifically Catholic concerns—were equated in their minds with the public good. The Concordat between the Vatican and the Nazi regime in July 1933 promised the Catholic leadership the possibility of achieving the kind of autonomy they had sought for decades, in exchange for officially accepting the new Nazi order. As Böckenförde dryly diagnoses, in the minds of Catholic leaders the preservation of the democratic order carried no weight by comparison. Additionally, leading Catholics attached great hopes to the new Reich, expecting that it would revive the old Christian-Catholic, anti-enlightenment and ‘organic’ alternative to the modern, individualist, and secular state. Written in 1961, the article was the first in-depth historiographic study of Catholic complicity in the rise of the Nazi regime and caused a lasting public controversy, which ultimately vindicated Böckenförde’s account.

scholarly journals Why We (Still) Need a Revolution

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 2197-2227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Goldoni ◽  
Christopher McCorkindale
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Part D ◽  
Part C ◽  
Narrow View ◽  
Stability Order ◽  
Core Principle ◽  
The Many

This paper posits a (very British!) call to arms, and does so in five steps. In part A, we address the need for constitutional fictions by which the many surrender political power to the few, in the name of stability, order and security. In part B, however, we will show that conflict is both a necessary and a core principle of political constitutionalism—that it is the latent possibility of conflict, the (re)awkening of the many where the few abuse that power, that acts as the final check on government. In part C, we trace the steps by which recent re-interpretations of the work of J.A.G. Griffith, with a focus on the work of Tomkins and Bellamy, have reduced politics to its parliamentary form, thereby closing—rather than “enlarging”—the “areas for argument and discussion”—a narrow view of the constitution to which, admittedly, Griffith himself might have subscribed. In part D, we will assess the limits of such a narrow reading of the political and argue that a more dynamic and reflexive approach is needed if we are to remain in—or recover to—rude constitutional health. Finally, in part E, we will use the political and constitutional background to the devolution of legislative and executive power to Scotland in order to demonstrate the power of political conflict, in extraordinary moments, to expose, break down and create new constitutional fictions.

scholarly journals Poder político fiduciario y soberanía popular. Libertad política, confianza y revolución en la filosofía política de Locke

Daímon ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 33-48
Author(s):  
Jordi Mundó
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Public Good ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Political Freedom ◽  
The Political ◽  
Free People ◽  
Republican Theory

La teoría republicana moderna de la concepción revolucionaria de la soberanía popular tuvo un eslabón fundamental en la filosofía política de John Locke, quien elaboró un argumento en favor de la libertad natural y de la autonomía de juicio de los individuos, y en contra de la sujeción natural y la alienación de la libertad política. Concibe la autoridad política como un poder político fiduciario instituido para el fin del bien público. Cuando los gobernantes actúan para fines distintos de los encomendados, arbitrariamente o por su interés propio, la confianza se pierde y el ejercicio del poder político regresa a las manos del pueblo libre. Modern republican theory of the revolutionary conception of popular sovereignty had a fundamental link in the political philosophy of John Locke, who elaborated an argument in favour of the natural freedom and autonomy of judgment of individuals, and against the natural subjection and alienation of political freedom. He conceives of political authority as a fiduciary political power instituted for the end of public good. When the trustees act for ends other than those entrusted, arbitrarily or for his own interest, trust is forfeited and the exercise of political power returns to the hands of the free people.

scholarly journals Reimagining Democracy through Syria’s Wartime Sharia Committees

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-79
Author(s):  
Emma Findlen LeBlanc
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
State Control ◽  
Legal Process ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Creative Effort

This article examines Syrians’ narratives about the network of Sharia Committees (Hay’āt al-Sharia) that emerged as the most pervasive and popular legal project during the ongoing civil war. Many Syrians formerly excluded from political power, especially working-class Sunnis, envision the Sharia Committees as a revolutionary space for realising self-determination, where sharia is articulated as a democratic legal process embedded in its ostensibly inherent pluralism, flexibility, anti-authoritarianism and conception of justice as reconciliation and public good. By reviving a historically recurrent vision of sharia as radical democratic practice, Syrians attempt to extricate sharia from its entanglements with efforts to govern. The Sharia Committees thus represent a creative effort to reclaim democracy from state control while challenging rigid, rule-oriented understandings of sharia.

scholarly journals Agriculture as the Problem: New Agendas and New Opportunities

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra S. Batie
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Economically Disadvantaged ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The Past ◽  
Tax Revenues ◽  
Rural Economies ◽  
Public Commitment ◽  
Colleges Of Agriculture

Agriculture was once seen as the solution to many of the nation's problems. A strong agricultural sector translated into a strong America. Kohl et al. have presented four reasons for the past public commitment to agriculture. First, the agricultural sector has had considerable political power; second, there has been a widely held perception that farmers were economically disadvantaged relative to the rest of society; third, for many decades the growth of rural economies has been dependent on healthy agricultural sectors; and, finally, information produced by colleges of agriculture has been seen as a public good worthy of support by general tax revenues.

Faith, or On Religion

2020 ◽  
pp. 148-169
Author(s):  
Ryan Patrick Hanley
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Way

Chapter 5 shifts from Fénelon’s practical writings to his writings on metaphysics, theology, and spirituality. In surveying these writings, this and the following two chapters aim not to provide exhaustive treatments of these areas of his thought, but to demonstrate their significance for Fénelon’s political philosophy. Chapter 5 begins this by presenting Fénelon’s views on the political significance of religious faith. In so doing, it focuses on his realist claims regarding how religious faith and institutions can serve as checks on political power. Its first part examines his claims regarding the connection of irreligion and tyranny. It then examines his claims regarding how religion can mitigate propensities to tyranny. Its final section turns to Fénelon’s nuanced position on the proper relationship of Church and State, which centers on the way in which religious institutions can provide useful checks on executive power.

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