TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE…………………………………………………………………i
CERTIFICATION…………………………………………..………ii
DEDICATION……………………………………………………....iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT……………………………………………iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………..….vi
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
General
Introduction…………………….1
1.1 Statement
of the Problem…………….2
1.2
Purpose
of the Study…………………………………….……3
1.3
Scope
of the Study……………………………………………4
1.4
Methodology………………………………………………….4
1.5
Literature
review……………………………………………..5
CHAPTER TWO
2.0
The
Origin of Civil State………………….11
2.1 The
State of nature………………………....11
2.2
The
right to private property……………..15
2.3
The
social contact………………..........19
CHAPTER THREE
3.0
The
Lockean Civil State……………........24
3.1 The
purpose of civil state…………………24
3.2
The
Separation of powers…………...29
3.3
The
Extent and limit of Representation……........33
3.4
The
dissolution of Government………........37
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 The
relevance of Lockean civil state to Nigerian democracy…….40
4.1 The
leadership question………...42
4.2 Security…………………………………46
4.3 Human
rights and social justice ……………..49
4.4 Checks
and Balances ………………………..52
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 Evaluation and conclusion ………………55
5.1 Evaluation………………………………………………….55
5.2
Conclusion…………………………………………59
BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………….61
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.1 General Introduction
John Locke was born on August 29, 1632 in Warrington,
Somerset. His father, John Locke senior,
was a lawyer and a small land owner. The family had a puritan and a
parliamentary background. He studied at
the famous Christ Church, Oxford. He studied sciences, especially medicine
under Sir Robert Boyle and was later admitted into the household of the Lord
Aschey as his physician and secretary. He later opened up a new chapter in his
life and became involved in political affairs of the day.
One
of the bases of his political thought was his teaching on the civil state which
he best called civil society. In order
to demonstrate what a civil society is, he traced its origin to the state of
nature from where men unite together to go into civil state. He stated that,
This is done wherever any number of men, in the state of nature, enter
into society to make one people, one body politic, under one supreme
government, or else when anyone joins himself to, and incorporates with any
government already made….
From the state of nature, people enter into civil
state through consent, to surrender their right of enforcing the law of nature
to the society for them to setup a lawful form of government they thought fit.
Democracy being a system of government under which the
people exercise the governing power either directly or through representatives
duly elected by them, is taken to be one of the
forms of government which people in the civil state may choose to set up. There
is need therefore, to explore the ideals of the civil state by John Locke, and
to bring out its relevance to the practice of democracy in the Nigerian setup.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In the light of the above explication, it is good to
ask the basic question:
what are the problems of Nigerian democracy? Some of the problems are: the failure of
leadership, inadequate checks and balances of the arms of government, lack of
security of life and property, and violation of human rights. These problems
among others make Nigerian democracy to be in shambles. Every Nigerian is in one way or the other
affected by this difficult situation facing the Nigerian State, and it is every
one’s duty to make maximum effort towards solving these problems for the
actualization of the ideals of democracy in Nigeria. Therefore, the ugly
situation of Nigeria democracy is the problem that motivates the research.
1.3.
Purpose of the Study
Following the afore-mentioned problems, the aim
of the study is to first of all explore John Locke’s teaching on the elements
of the civil state, and to demonstrate the necessity of this teaching in
solving the problems facing Nigerian democracy.
In other words, this work seeks for the relevance of John Locke’s notion
on civil State, to the practice of democracy in Nigeria.
1.3. Scope
of the Study
Taking cognizance of
Locke’s vast contribution and discussion in philosophy, this study is limited
to his teaching on the civil state, and its importance to the remedy of some of
the posing problems of democracy in the Nigerian State.
1.4.
Methodology
The method of the work is expository and
evaluative. This means that Locke’s
Civil State is explored and it is evaluated by showing its relevance to
Nigerian democracy.
For proper comprehension, the work is divided into
five chapters. Chapter one serves as the background which explicates the
introduction, the statement of the problem, the aim, the scope, the method as
well as the literature review. Chapter
two treats the origin of John Locke’s civil state, which is traced back to the
state of nature. Also Locke’s view of
right to private property is stated in this chapter. In chapter three, Locke’s civil state is
exposed properly, with its basic features like the purpose of the civil state,
the separation of powers of government, the extent and limit of representation,
and the dissolution of government. In
chapter four, how the ideals in the Lockean Civil State can be of good help in
tackling some of the problems facing Nigerian democracy, is duly considered.
Finally, chapter five deals with general evaluation and conclusion.
1.5.
Literature Review
In order
to properly explain Locke’s notion of civil state, there is need to explicate
the views some other thinkers have about the civil state. A. Appadorai quoting R. Maclver in his book The substance of Politics stated that:
The state is an association which,
acting through law as promulgated by a government endowed to this end with
coercive power, maintains within a community territorially demarcated the
universal external conditions of social order.
He
agreed with Herbert Spencer that “the state is nothing but a natural
institution for preventing one man from infringing the rights of another; it is
a joint-stock protection company for mutual assurance .
Following
what is said above, from the ancient period, many philosophers in their
political thought have in one way or the other viewed on the notion of civil
state. Each of them is influenced by the
political affairs of his time, so they have related different views about the
civil state. Therefore, the views of various philosophers of different epochs
are to be reviewed.
Plato one
of the ancient philosophers, in his political thought held that the state originated
for the reflection of people’s economic needs.
This means that for him, as he is quoted by Stumpf in his book Philosophy: History and Problems, “a state comes into existence because no
individual is self sufficing, we all have many needs”. The state exists for the service of
needs of
men. In other words, “men are not
independent of one another,
but needs
the aid and co-operation of others in the production of necessaries of life”.
He divided the citizens of the state into three classes, namely: the
guardians who are the rulers, the auxiliaries who are the soldiers of the
state, and the common people who provide the material needs of the state.
Aristotle
also in the ancient period stated that the state is natural to man. As he is quoted by Stumpf, “it is evident
that the state is a creature of nature and that man is by nature a political
animal”.
This made him to state that “he who is unable to live in society, or who
has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a
god”.
The state for him exists for an end, and this end is the supreme good of
man. This means that, “the state comes
into existence for the bare end of life, but it continues in existence for the
sake of good life….”
Thomas
Aquinas in the medieval era viewed the state as a natural society, which has at
its disposal the necessary means for attaining its end, which is the common
good of the people. For him “… the
government of the state is instituted to secure the necessary conditions of the
common good”. This means that,
The state’s
function is to secure that common good by keeping the peace, organizing the
activities of the citizens in harmonious pursuit, providing for the resources
to sustain life, and preventing as far as possible, obstacles to the good of
life”.
Hooker a
renaissance period thinker whose teaching had much influence on John Locke,
viewed the emergence of the state as a natural inclination in man to live in
society, and this is only achieved by common agreement of the individuals
involved. This according to Copleston
means that “the establishment of civil government thus rests upon consent,
without which there was no reason that one man should take upon him to lord or
judge over another”.
Furthermore,
in the modern era, Hobbes according to M. Sibley in his book, Political Ideas and Ideologies, viewed
the emergence of the civil state as,
When men contract with one another
to leave the state of nature, they then enter civil society where the equality
of nature gives way to subordination to the ruler.
For
Hobbes the sovereign is not a party to the contract, he only accepts his power
from the contractors and he is absolutely free to act in any way he sees fit,
subject only to the primary law of nature that he preserves himself.
Rousseau,
another philosopher of modern period, viewed that in the civil state each
person gives up his natural liberty in order to gain civil liberty in common
with others under the supreme direction of the general will. Rousseau’s own
view of the civil state according to M. Sibley, is that, “a legitimate civil
state… implies that men have given up their natural freedom and have exchanged
for it a civilized freedom broader and more certain than that which they
previously enjoyed”.
Finally,
the foregoing is the concise conceptions of philosophers on the civil
state. With these in mind, it is proper
to examine John Locke’s exposition of this topic.
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