Liberty, Democracy and Despotism

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  • Created by: becky.65
  • Created on: 04-05-20 11:56

Democracy and government

Rousseau 

  • The government does not represent the people in its sovereign legislative capacity 
  • The government is the servant of the people, its role is to carry out the people's will 
  • He is against democracy and representative government and believes in an elective aristocracy because democratic governments are subject to civil wars and internal agitations 
  • The form of government appropriate to a country depends on a variety of factors, including size (population and geographical extent), the nature and state of the economy, the character and manners of the people, even the climate

Montesquieu 

  • Republic = Virtue; Monarchy = Honour, Despotism = Fear 
  • Sovereign power is the power to make law 
  • The ‘laws relative to democracy’ are laws defining who has the right to vote, the size of assemblies, the election of the ministers, the way votes are cast, whether ballots are public or secret 
  • Virtue is defined as the contrary of ambition 
  • Therefore, everything depends on establishing love for a republic for it to be successful  
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Democracy and government

Montesquieu

  • Liberty can consist only in the power of doing what we ought to will. It is a right of doing whatever the laws permit. If a citizen could do what they forbid, he would be no longer possessed of liberty, because all his fellow citizens would have the same power 
  •  To have liberty, people must not be afraid of each other so law is needed. Therefore it requires government 
  • To have freedom, you have to have a stable government where these is a strong rule of law 
  • Political liberty is only found in moderate governments 
  • The people should not single out individuals or minorities for harsh treatment 
  • Where the people are sovereign, there are no restraints on its power 
  • Individuals and minorities seem to have nothing to rely on for protection other than virtue of the people as a whole
  • The larger the democracy, the less virtuous it is 
  • You cannot have republican virtue on a large scale, so you shouldn't have large democracies as virtue is what is needed

Rousseau 

  • The larger the democracy, the less virtuous it is 
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Democracy and size

Voltaire

  • The larger the democracy, the less virtuous it is 
  • Democracy flourishes in small, homogeneous ancient city-states like Athens, Sparta and republican Rome 
  • Very little financial inequality among citizens 
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Monarchy: For and Against

Montesquieu 

  • If states can't survive as democracies, they should try and be monarchies, that is our best hope
  • If republican government is bound to fail in the modern world, perhaps the best we can hope for is a monarchy 
  • The defining feature of monarchy, as contrasted with despotism, is the rule of law
    • The monarch can exercise power, but only through representatives 
    • Things are fairly predictable 
  • The principle of monarchy is honour 
  • People want to glorify themselves and, in a monarchy, everyone is trying their best for social standing. Peasants obey the lord because they want to be in his favour and work his way up the ranks, and this continues up the ranks 
  • Monarchy is compatible with commercial society because it thrives on ambitions and self-interest because they want to be admired and envied. This is also what powers the monarchy 

Hume

  • We shouldn't think of monarchy as despotic as monarchial government seems to have made the greatest advances toward perfection 
  • However, it doesn't help with equality 
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Monarchy: For and Against

Frederick the Great, King of Prussia 

  • The first servant of the state 
  • He is equal and just another person; it could be anyone, but we have to pick one person to be the monarch 
  • A king has to be an expert in law, justice, defence and have a profound knowledge of the country and the people he is governing. Being a good king is hard work 
  • Claims the sovereign is the representative of the state
  • It is always a danger that the monarchy will turn into a despotism and nothing can stop this as the monarch has the power
  • However, he can choose not to act like a despot

Voltaire 

  • Argues for monarchy 
  • Voltaire argues that the best form of government depends on situation and character of people in question 
  • Men are naturally equal and in an ideal world, there would be no domination 
  • But in the world as it is, where we compete for resources, domination and inequality is inevitable 
  • This makes monarchy, or despotism, inevitable as well
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Monarchy: For and Against

Voltaire 

  • Protection of property, the rule of law, a say in the assembly: all are possible in a monarchy: so maybe an ‘enlightened despot’ like Frederick is the best we can hope for.

Paine

  • Government is not a natural thing that is produced by society 
  • Government is an evil and it is only thought of as necessary by the inability of virtue to govern the world 
  • It is necessary only to protect our freedom and security from the effects of human selfishness 
  • Favours a pure form of democracy: a House of Representative without a Senate or President because if any branches were good and trustworthy, then why would you have to check its power 
  • Rejects the idea that the more simple anything is, the easier it is to abuse 
  • Monarchial power can only be usurped power because it has no legitimate basis and it could never hold power through the consent of the people because when did the people ask for it?
  • The Monarchy cannot come from God 
  • Even if the monarch is great how do you know their offspring will be any good
  • America is proof that countries can survive without monarchies 
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American Government

Paine's plan for the system of government of an independent America

  • A legislative assembly with at least 390 members 
  • A three-fifths majority required for legislation 
  • No upper house/senate and no King

John Adams

  • Paine's system is too democratic 
  • People will be able to manipulate it for their own self-interest

Federalists 

  • Wanted to avoid despotism and make government answerable to the people 
  • They were worried about the consequences of an excess of liberty which could also lead to despotism  
  • Worried that the self-government of the people would degenerate into the tyranny of one party of faction over the rest of the people 
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American Government

Rousseau 

  • Recommends that there should be no public debate among the people 
  • It is better for there to be as many as possible political opinions to prevent them from becoming unequal 

Federalists 

  • To control the affections of factions, you must reject pure democracy as it enables the majority to reject the public interest and the public good 
  • Therefore a republic is needed where there are more representatives from a variety of parties and interests so it is less likely there is a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens 
  • Liberty for all depends on the people not governing themselves and choosing representatives who will govern on their behalf 
  • Representative government needs to be complex, structured around a separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers and balance those powers against each other 
  • The result will be that virtue is not necessary for the functioning of the new American republic
  • Believe that the representation and balance of powers are together and are the best protection of individual liberty 
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