Political theory paper

Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u Locke’s Theory PAGEREF _Toc385259079 h 1Burke’s theory PAGEREF _Toc385259080 h 2Nozick’s theory PAGEREF _Toc385259081 h 2Mussolini’s theory PAGEREF _Toc385259082 h 3Marxism theory PAGEREF _Toc385259083 h 4Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc385259084 h 5

Since time in memorial different philosophers has different political theories, the theories depend on the philosophers’ perspective regarding politics and political leaders at the time. Some of the theories have been disputed by other philosophers while others have been supported by the new generation philosophers.

Locke’s Theory Locke is one of the philosophers who were renowned for his theories regarding political issues. In his theory Locke believed that the “original state of nature was happy and characterized by reason and tolerance “. He also believed that within such a state people had equal rights and were all independent. Locke’s theory emphasised that nobody had the right to cause harm to another person’s life or his health and even another person’s property.

In Locke’s theory the right to own property is given much emphasis, as Locke believed that every person had the right to the “Product of his or her own labor”. He believed that a human being worked to better his or her living standards so as to live a comfortable life as one desired. In order to live such a life one had to own some property. In his work Locke goes ahead to refute some theories which had been put across before. The theories that had been put across before justified oppression, privilege accorded to a few people in the community, and even political slavery.

Locke believed that the Government was put in place by the people so as to secure their lives and property. The government should ensure the well being of all the people who put it in place and should not govern the people as slaves, and the people in government should not see themselves as masters. Locke believed that the government should be guided by natural law.

Burke’s theory In Burke’s theory he believed that all activities carried out by a human being are guided by some sort of natural instinct. All human activities were either as a result of the love for curiosity, pleasure, and even pain. According to Burke curiosity leads to the stimulation of the mind, pain brought about awareness on the gravity of an issue. That in turn leads to self-preservation. Burke believed that human beings should be guided by natural laws that came out of personal instincts. Burke believed that natural law was enough to guide a person as no one will hurt the other person or destroys the other person’s property as they wont like the same to be done to them. Burke though was of the opinion that nature required some improvement in order for the natural law to succeed.

Nozick’s theory In Nozick’s theory he argues that every human being has the right to own whatever it is that they produce. He argues that if one owns himself absolutely then he should also be able to own every thing that belongs to him absolutely. He argues that taxation takes some portion of what the people produce without their consent. He argues that redistributive taxation is not fair as it is not voluntarily, as it involves giving to others what belongs to us without consent. He argues that every thing is as a result of two things, which are the powers of a human being and natural resources. The only thing that is not as a result of two things is labor that the human beings provide. Nozick gives an example of a house which is made up of human talent, and other natural resources such as wood, the land which the house is built on, and the bricks. Nozick argues that even though human beings own their talents absolutely, redistributive taxation is not consistent with “self-ownership”. According to Nozick’s theory, prerogative of some things such as cars is reliant on the legality of prerogative of the previous owners. If one buys a car from another person and it is stolen then the person who has bought it is not entitled to it as the entitlement is not legal. Libertarianism is justified according to self-ownership, but to some extent the way in which the person became in possession of the resources and even the talents.

Mussolini’s theory Mussolini’s theory is about fascism, in the theory the needs of an individual or the needs of the society at large are considered to be of less important to the needs of the society. The theory tries to bring about national unity based on issues such as culture, religion, race and ethnic background. Even though many scholars have different opinions concerning fascism, there are some elements that are associated with it. Characteristics of fascism include corporatism, totalitarianism, militarism, authoritarianism, and collectivism. There have been various debates that were aimed at identifying states that could be considered as fascist. Depending on what people considers fascism to be, and then some governments to some extent might be considered as fascist.

Fascism has its roots in Italy; it was first practiced by an Italian leader by the name of Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was the one who coined the term Fascimo which is actually derived from an Italian word Fascio, meaning “union” and Latin word fasces. Fasces were a “bundle of rods which were tied around an axe which symbolized power in ancient Roman”. Despite the various descriptions of what Fascism is, the significant factor is it does not respect an individuals needs.

Marxism theory Under the theory Marx argued that all other aspects of the society were dependent on the economic situation of a state. Marx gave more emphasis on creation of economic opportunities such things included better education systems, morality in the society, and fair judicial system. That led Marx to be labeled as “Materialistic”; Marx argued that some of the foremost ideas in the society came about because of either material or economic circumstances. He stressed the importance of production in promoting change in the society.

Under Marxist theory he argues that for a change to take place in the society it takes the effort of all and not just a section of the dominant groups in the society. He emphasizes on the importance of the working class coming together in making some positive change in the society. Marx divides the society into four groups, the primitive, capitalists, feudal and finally the slaves. The capitalists are the most dominant of the groups as they own most of the productive resources. The rest of the groups of the society own nothing apart from their labor. The other groups also provide labor to the capitalists.

All the theories above do not disregard the state and do not consider the state as obsolete or not necessary what the theories are fighting for is for the states to consider the welfare of the citizens. They all drive at letting the leaders in power to consider the interest of the society at large and not just their own selfish interests. The theories serve as a wake up call to all the citizens the importance of having control of their destiny rather than leaving it all in the hands of the leaders. The theories put the responsibilities’ of change and decision making in the hands of different groups of the society.

Of all the thinkers, the one that I agree with most is Marx; this is because his theory regards everybody no matter how low one is in the society as very important. The theory calls for every one t try and make some positive change in the society. Other theories leave the decision making to some certain people, but Marx puts that responsibility of making the change on everybody. Marx do not discredit anyone, he only emphasizes on the people not to leave their destiny on a few individuals. In so doing the theory promotes responsibilities among all the people in the society.

Conclusion The different theories that have put across were all meant to promote a certain aspect of politics, the way of implementation can either bring about positive changes in the society or some negative changes. Some theories cannot be practiced in the modern world such as Mussolini’s theory, but it served its purpose according to the need of the time. Some theories were put in place due to the political need of the time or the oppressions that some of the people experienced.