Author: haroonkhan
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Natural Liberty
We can understand natural liberty in terms of liberty naturally available to the people. It implies unrestricted and unfettered liberty to do what one wills in a stage of natural condition. This can be possible only when we conceive a stage in which either there is a situation of licentious liberty as Hobbes thought it…
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Types of Liberty and Freedom
As hinted earlier, liberty or freedom has been understood in a variety of ways. Some common understanding and interpretation may be discussed in the following manner.
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Conditions for Realization of Liberty and Freedom
Realization of liberty and freedom as an integral part of human, moral and self-development require either un-interfered action as an agent or provision of enabling conditions. It is also dependent on fulfillment of certain other institutional and constitutional requirements.
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Liberty and Freedom Defined
The terms liberty and freedom have been defined and interpreted differently by writers and thinkers using different perspectives. To appreciate the meaning, nature, scope, relationship of liberty with authority and liberty and equality, etc. we should look at how they have been defined. From the brief survey of how liberty and freedom have been treated…
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A Brief History of Liberty and Freedom
Liberty and freedom as principles of organizing political and civic and political societies have always been a concern of political thinkers and statesmen. Greeks put liberty and freedom at the core of civic life. They were concerned with the collective life and active participation of the individual in the affairs of the polis. Pericles, a…
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Meaning and Sphere of Liberty and Freedom
In this chapter we will discuss the principle of liberty. The word ‘liberty’ has come from the Latin word libertas or liber meaning ‘free’. As a principle of political theory, it signifies the sphere of freedom to the individual against the authority of the State or any such authority delegated. In this sense, it means ‘absence of restraint’ or…
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Introduction
A major concern of political theory has been to resolve the sphere and scope of actions of the authority and the individual. This issue has drawn attention to the principles that define or determine the limit and scope of their relationship. Principles of rights and liberty primarily deal with state-individual relationship and define how much…
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External intervention
The challenge posed by bloc politics of the Cold War and intervention by USA and USSR in the internal affairs of many countries is well known. Interference by either power in the name of protecting the interest of communism or capitalism and democracy amounted to violation of the sovereign right of the concerned nation-state to…
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Internal strife
Let us take up the pulls and the pressures, which arise from within and challenge the concept of a sovereign state. In many post-colonial societies, a situation has emerged where neither the state nor the nation exists. The case of what has come to be identified as ‘failed states’ is in point. Consider the societies…
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Internal Strife and External Intervention
In addition to the factors like neo-colonialism, supra-national organizations, global concerns and globalization, we find a few more factors and forces that challenge the traditional concept of sovereign state. These factors and forces can be identified as external interventions, intra-state ethnic and civil strife, sub-national and secessionist movements.