Introduction to Political Theory

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

Chapter 19 Civil disobedience


Introduction


Civil disobedience is the non-violent breaking of a law on moral grounds. While
there were theorists of civil disobedience in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, and the theory may be applicable to non-democratic societies, this
chapter focuses on the post-war discussion of civil disobedience in a liberal
democratic society. Although few people may ever engage in civil disobedience
in their lifetimes it is not a peripheral concept, for the justification of civil
disobedience touches on the moral basis of majoritarian democracy. Whereas
in the pre-modern and early modern periods political theory was concerned
with the right to rebel, the fundamental question raised by civil disobedience
to a modern audience is this: how is it possible to have a general respect for
the rule of law and yet break specific laws?

Chapter map


In this chapter we will:


  • Distinguish civil disobedience from
    legal protest, revolution and ‘mere
    criminality’.

  • Discuss whether we have a special
    obligation to obey democratically
    agreed laws.

  • Analyse one of the most influential
    philosophical discussions of civil
    disobedience – that advanced by John
    Rawls.

    • Apply the theoretical discussion
      of civil disobedience to a case study:
      the Civil Rights Movement in the
      United States.

    • Discuss Martin Luther King’s
      justification of civil disobedience.



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