Is Civil Disobedience Justified In A Democracy?
To What Extent is Civil Disobedience Justified in a Democracy?
Contents
Abstract 3
Introduction 4
What is Civil Disobedience? 5
Democracy 8
Conclusion 11
Bibliography 12
Abstract
My interest in the topic of civil disobedience was sparked by a specific news article in which activists climbed Mount Rushmore to hang a poster demanding that the president of the United States, Barrack Obama, address issues of global warming. The activists were sentenced to 100 hours of community service and fined $460 each. What interested me was that they were punished at all- shouldn’t they be allowed to express their thoughts in a democracy without fear of consequences? They were obviously …show more content…
Justifying breaking the law is never easy; circumstances must be examined and carefully analyzed. What this paper attempts to do is to form a criteria in which civil disobedience can be justified- when it is used as a last resort, when the government is not apathetic to your cause, when your motivations are due to a moral obligation etc. Past disobedients such as Martin Luther King Jr., best known for his inspiration of civil disobedience to end racial segregation and discrimination, and Gandhi, who utilized mass civil disobedience to fight for India’s independence, are great examples of when civil disobedience can be justified, as well as showing the great positive social changes possible from civil disobedience.
While a definite universal checklist cannot be formed (as all democracies are different with differing circumstances), the main validation of any form of civil disobedience is justice- the disobedient must be completely sincere in his/her motivations and indefinitely believe that what s/he is doing is moving society closer towards a positive …show more content…
The former exhibits conscientiousness- a certain moral conviction to violate/not follow that particular law, similar to civil disobedience. While conscientious objection does not primarily aim to communicate to the government the reasons for the violation of that law or that they have done so at all, they unavoidably do so and this communicative element is similar to that of civil disobedience (in which they aim to inform the government of their displeasure of a particular law). Conscientious objection, however, may be legal (although not very often), compared to civil disobedience which is never legal.
Revolutionary action exhibits conscientiousness and publicity but the main difference between it and civil disobedience is that while the latter aims to make changes to a particular law, the former aims to change the legal system completely. Revolutionary action aims to persuade society that a change in regime is needed and that the government that should no longer be the government. While Gandhi’s ‘Quit India’ campaign involved mass civil disobedience, it was driven by revolutionary aims, one of the numerous examples of how the terms overlap.
It is difficult to classify a form of dissent solely civil disobedience because of the unavoidable overlaps of motives and characteristics. However, the defining quality of civil disobedience is its aim- to bring about a revision/removal
Contents
Abstract 3
Introduction 4
What is Civil Disobedience? 5
Democracy 8
Conclusion 11
Bibliography 12
Abstract
My interest in the topic of civil disobedience was sparked by a specific news article in which activists climbed Mount Rushmore to hang a poster demanding that the president of the United States, Barrack Obama, address issues of global warming. The activists were sentenced to 100 hours of community service and fined $460 each. What interested me was that they were punished at all- shouldn’t they be allowed to express their thoughts in a democracy without fear of consequences? They were obviously …show more content…
Justifying breaking the law is never easy; circumstances must be examined and carefully analyzed. What this paper attempts to do is to form a criteria in which civil disobedience can be justified- when it is used as a last resort, when the government is not apathetic to your cause, when your motivations are due to a moral obligation etc. Past disobedients such as Martin Luther King Jr., best known for his inspiration of civil disobedience to end racial segregation and discrimination, and Gandhi, who utilized mass civil disobedience to fight for India’s independence, are great examples of when civil disobedience can be justified, as well as showing the great positive social changes possible from civil disobedience.
While a definite universal checklist cannot be formed (as all democracies are different with differing circumstances), the main validation of any form of civil disobedience is justice- the disobedient must be completely sincere in his/her motivations and indefinitely believe that what s/he is doing is moving society closer towards a positive …show more content…
The former exhibits conscientiousness- a certain moral conviction to violate/not follow that particular law, similar to civil disobedience. While conscientious objection does not primarily aim to communicate to the government the reasons for the violation of that law or that they have done so at all, they unavoidably do so and this communicative element is similar to that of civil disobedience (in which they aim to inform the government of their displeasure of a particular law). Conscientious objection, however, may be legal (although not very often), compared to civil disobedience which is never legal.
Revolutionary action exhibits conscientiousness and publicity but the main difference between it and civil disobedience is that while the latter aims to make changes to a particular law, the former aims to change the legal system completely. Revolutionary action aims to persuade society that a change in regime is needed and that the government that should no longer be the government. While Gandhi’s ‘Quit India’ campaign involved mass civil disobedience, it was driven by revolutionary aims, one of the numerous examples of how the terms overlap.
It is difficult to classify a form of dissent solely civil disobedience because of the unavoidable overlaps of motives and characteristics. However, the defining quality of civil disobedience is its aim- to bring about a revision/removal