Political obligation

Political obligation refers to the obligations of citizens within a state to obey its laws. Though most political theorists agree that some form of political obligation exists, many disagree about its exact nature. Some theorists believe political obligation is drawn from fairness, gratitude, or consent. These are all theories based on transactional accounts. Other theorists believe political obligation is based on utilitarianism or human rights.

Overview

Political obligation is the moral requirement that citizens obey the laws of the society in which they live. Some form of political obligation has existed since people first organized themselves into communities and cities. However, different philosophers have proposed various reasons for citizens of a land to obey its laws.

Some theories focus on transactional accounts, meaning citizens who receive a morally significant service from the state should repay that service through obedience. These theories may be broken down into three categories: fairness, gratitude, and consent.

Arguments based on fairness view states and other political communities as cooperatives designed to produce benefits for their members. For this reason, it would be unfair for a member to avoid contributing to the benefit of society or avoid obeying the laws of that society while extracting benefits from that society. For example, if a law mandates that citizens of a state pay taxes to build roads, someone who avoids paying taxes yet still uses those roads would be viewed as acting unfairly.

Arguments based on gratitude are similar to those concerning fairness. In this context, citizens receive benefits from the state and are expected to repay the state in some manner for those benefits. Proponents of this argument believe that the proper way for citizens to repay the benefits they receive is through adherence to the law.

The final type of transactional account focuses on consent. According to this theory, individuals who consent to be part of society, meaning they willingly participate in society, agree to abide by a social contract. This contract involves the state providing some benefits to the people, and the people obeying the state’s laws. By remaining part of the state, citizens consent to be governed by its laws. This requires limiting some personal freedoms in exchange for a functional, orderly society.

Other arguments favoring political obligation are based on a sense of natural duty. Some of these arguments are based on utilitarianism, asserting that it is better for the whole society if citizens obey the laws, even if it might be worse for a few members. Other natural duty-based arguments contend that the existence of human rights imposes political obligations. This argument asserts that as people benefit from certain rights, they are required to avoid interfering with the rights of others. They are also required to ensure that any other parties do not violate the rights of more vulnerable people. Proponents of this argument believe the most efficient means for protecting those rights is obeying and supporting the state.

Bibliography

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