Introduction to Political Theory

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.