majority of fellow Americans, but to the judiciary; in effect, they were forcing test
cases for the legitimacy of state law. On the other hand, it might be maintained
that it was through elected representatives in Congress – representatives of ‘the
majority’ – that the great strides forward in civil rights were made.
The failure of the Civil Rights Movement to change Southerners’ attitudes is
revealed in the Congressional voting figures for the Civil Rights Act (1964). In the
Senate, the Democrats divided 46–21 in favour (69 per cent in favour) and the
Republicans were 27–6 in favour (82 per cent). All Southern Democratic Senators
voted against. In the House of Representatives, the Democrats divided 152–96 in
favour (61 per cent) and the Republicans 138–34 in favour (80 per cent). Of the
Southern Democratic Congressman 92 out of 103 (89 per cent) voted against.Summary
Civil disobedience may seem a marginal political issue, given that most citizens do
not engage in it. However, the arguments for and against civil disobedience go to
the heart of the moral basis of democracy and, in particular, the only viable form
of democracy in a modern society: representative majoritarian democracy. While
Rawls’s theory of civil disobedience does not really hold up when it is tested against
historical reality it provides a very useful framework within which to assess both
the grounds, and the limits, of majoritarian democracy. More generally, the
development of the concept of civil disobedience grew out of, but also represents
a critique of, early liberal theories of political obligation; civil disobedience implies
that human beings should retain a degree of moral autonomy vis-à-vis the state.Questions
- Does the fact that a law was passed through a democratic process give us a
special reason for obeying it? - Can a person who engages in civil disobedience give a coherent answer to the
accusation that ‘if everybody did that, there would be a collapse in social order’? - Is there a valid distinction between civil disobedience and conscientious refusal?
- Was the US Civil Rights Movement really an example of civil disobedience?
References
Bedau, H.A. (ed.) (1991) Civil Disobedience in FocusLondon: Routledge.
Fuller, L. (1965) ‘A Reply to Professors Cohen and Dworkin’ Villanova Law Review, 655–66.
King, M.L. (1991) ‘Letter from Birmingham City Jail’ in H.A. Bedau (ed.) Civil Disobedience
in FocusLondon: Routledge, 68–84.
Rawls, J. (1972) A Theory of JusticeOxford: Oxford University Press.442 Part 4 Contemporary ideas