Disobedients do not necessarily encourage other potential disobedients to follow suit. Bringing a case for independence of India to an essentially British run country would be futile. The problem with this is the lengthy process involved- Thoreau argues he was born to live, not to lobby. Another point made by blacks, women and Native Americans is that since they are not fully members of American society then they are not fully bound by its laws. My research into these questions then led into much broader topics- the characteristics of a democracy, the relationship between the government and citizen in such a system and how dissent fit into that relationship. tripod. Close • Posted by 1 hour ago. Bedau, Hugo A. While there may be the risk of anarchy the greater evil of despotism looms. These include Lincoln Douglas, Policy, Public Forum, Parli and Congress, as well as interpretation events, Original Oratory, and Extemporaneous Speaking. Civil disobedience, must be motivated by justice, true sincerity and conscientiousness and just as the influential disobedients Gandhi and King did, will move society closer to justice.

Additional materials, such as the best quotations, synonyms and word definitions to make your writing easier are The main reason for disobedients choosing the latter over the former is the publicity attained; it is much harder to garner attention through conventional and legal means compared to the news value of illegal actions. Hi there, would you like to get such a paper? The main difference lies in the disobedients aim to make his/her breach of the law public and known (whereas an ordinary offender would not want it to be known)-this shows a difference in motivation for breaching the law. Breaking the law in an attempt to bring about change should never be secretive or covert as said by Rawls- an American philosopher who wrote a chapter in a book, ‘The Justification of Civil Disobedience. Doing so may allow the authorities time to ensure no such action occurs and stop any form of disobedience from happening. Non-violence ensures that authorities do not treat the disobedient with equally violent countermeasures as well as the obvious avoidance of any direct harm done resulting from the violence. My initial question was, ‘Should protests be allowed in a democracy? From a cynical point of view it would appear that the government, once elected, would be free to act independently of its electors and there would be no guarantee that it would do as promised now being in power.

Security, Unique For that to occur the civilian would first need to be arrested (for breaking the law like civil disobedience) so s/he could bring the case to a court. Rousseau states that a person could be an egoist and decide that personal interest should override the collective interest. * Under what circumstances is it moral to break a law? Characteristics Conscientiousness is one of the main features of civil disobedience-it shows the sincerity and belief disobedients have in their actions. Due to the various struggles that the... Rate this post Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sophocles were three men who tried to show the world that unjust laws hurt all of society, and all three tried what they thought would be the remedy to such injustice. (2016, Feb 23). To refute said statement Thoreau and Gandhi state that those who object deeply to the injustices committed by the state should relinquish the benefits of citizenship by living a life of simplicity and relative poverty, removing the tacit consent of obeying the law and thus allowing civil disobedience. By being a citizen and enjoying the benefits-such as infrastructure, health care, police protection-one has given tacit consent to obey the laws set by the government. Democracy involves representative style of government, and in part, laws are established. The flexibility of the term means that nearly every government has attempted to classify itself as a ‘democracy’ as it is associated with many positive ideas- particularly freedom. If you need this or any other sample, we The legality of a law does not necessarily impact its morality- Thoreau was a firm believer in individualism and said that ‘you serve your country poorly if you do so by suppressing your conscience in favour of the law because your country needs conscience more than conscienceless robots’. Rate this post Civil disobedience is specified as the refusal to follow specific laws or governmental demands for the function of affecting legislation or government policy. Breaking the law in an attempt to bring about change should never be secretive or covert as said by Rawls- an American philosopher who wrote a chapter in a book, ‘The Justification of Civil Disobedience. Being run by the government (essentially) also means any form of revolutionary aims cannot be brought to the court-such as the ‘Quit India’ campaign. Violence would draw much public attention to the motives of the disobedient and would show his/her seriousness and enhance the effectiveness of the disobedience. Would they have been able to publicize this message with equal magnitude without breaking the law?
Martin Luther King Jr. states that if the legal chancels of change are open in theory but closed in practice, then the system is not democratic in the way needed for which civil disobedience is unnecessary. We must insist that men use their minds and not their biceps. Press J to jump to the feed. Also, while civil disobedience makes the general public realize the injustice of a particular law, only few will react with disobedience.

There are various characteristics of civil disobedience which allow us to classify and differentiate it from other forms of dissent. I... Rate this post The Meaning of Freedom The definition of freedom is, “the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint” (Freedom, 2019). Did the court take into account their motives for their disobedience when considering the punishment? Laws are made according to the ‘general will’ and not ‘personal will’. The flexibility of the term means that nearly every government has attempted to classify itself as a ‘democracy’ as it is associated with many positive ideas- particularly freedom.

’ but found that the word ‘protest’ was too broad and that was where I decided to narrow it down to civil disobedience. It is difficult to classify a form of dissent solely civil disobedience because of the unavoidable overlaps of motives and characteristics.

Legal channels for change The most obvious debate against civil disobedience in a democracy is that there are legal channels for change and disobedients should not have to resort to breaching the law. Conclusion So to what extent is civil disobedience justified in a democracy? As Karl Marx said (although from a rather misanthropic outlook), ‘The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them’. Rousseau’s version of the social contract theory is based on the ruling through majority. That person must put aside his ‘personal will’ and obey the ‘general will’. However, However, doing so may compromise the actions of the disobedient- such as informing the authorities of an attempt to release test animals at a laboratory. This difference in punishment shows that there is a distinct difference between civil disobedience and ordinary offences. Before considering whether civil disobedience can be justified, we must discuss its relevance today and determine exactly what it entails. Another difference is the disobedients willingness to accept any punishment given to them, which also separates them from ordinary offenders. Rhetorical Analysis of Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”, Comparing Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King on Unjust Laws, How does the form of a letter express a power of voice, Ask Writer For An underlying concept within these 3 attributes of civil disobedience is a certain fidelity to the current legal system-non-violence, accepting responsibility and publicity. Your Answer is very helpful for Us Thank you a lot! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience, To What Extent is Civil Disobedience Justified in a Democracy. What is Civil Disobedience? The problem with this argument is that the legal channels for change can never be exhausted- a person opposed to a law could always write another letter to the state or they could always wait for the next election. There are numerous variations of the theory by different philosophers such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Although questions of justification will be addressed more fully in the next section, it is worth noting here one point in favour of civil disobedience over legal protest.