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TYPES OF LIBERTY

Notion of liberty can be classified in many types.

Natural Liberty:- It means total and complete freedom. It means lack of any restraint.

This notion of liberty refers to the fact that man is by nature free.

Natural Liberty is strongly advocated by Rousseau who said that,

“Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains.” However, this concept of liberty is illusory. It is a myth.

Personal Liberty

This notion suggests that every human being desires to exercise his faculties and to determine the general conditions of his life. This provides justification of personal liberty which is championed by Mill who said that the individual should be free to experiment with his life, as long as his actions do not affect others.

National Liberty

It oceans national independence.

National liberty stands for achievement of complete independence and subsequent sovereignty of the nation from the dominance of foreign nation. Freedom from the bondage of other states is essential for the realization of liberty in its fullest sense. It means it is the foundation of all other liberties.

Civil Liberty

This liberty exists in a civil society.

It means liberty in social life. In the words of Gettel, “it includes liberty to free action and immunity from interference. It comprises rights and privileges that the state creates and enforces.” It includes freedom of the person, physical freedom from injury or threat to the life, health, and movement of the body, intellectual freedom for the expression of thought and belief, equality before the law, security of private property, freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of conscience. As per Laski civil liberty is the sum total of the rights, recognised in various degrees in different states. It is a safeguard against physical and moral coercion exerted by either an individual or the state. It includes; the right to life, personal safety and freedom, religious freedom, the right to reputation, the right to work, education, family rights, the right of association, the right to the general advantages of social life, the right to property.

Political Liberty

It refers to the individual‟s role, participation and share in the administration of the state. It connotes the opportunity of taking part in the process of government, and of having a say in the future development of the community. As Barker says, political liberty is

“a liberty not of curbing; constituting it by a general act of choice or election, in which we all freely share on the basis of universal suffrage; controlling it by a general and continuous process of discussion, in which we all freely share according to our capacities.”

Political liberty reinforces the duty of political obedience. Political liberty is often equated with the right to vote, the liberties of holding views about political matters and of ventilating those views in public, the right of addressing those with whom the decision rests and the liberty of seeking and holding office. Political liberty is based on the ideal of participation.

Political liberty is a guarantee to the whole community that it will not be governed by any outside power or by any individual or section of its own members. Further it is a guarantee to a sufficiently large group or interest that its claim will be heard and its wishes would make themselves felt. According to Laski political liberty can be realized if a citizen is educated enough to express what he wants and if he is well informed by honest and straightforward supply of news. According to Sartori, Political freedom is protection against arbitrary and absolute power. It desires “a situation which permits the governed effectively to oppose abuse of power by the governors.”

Economic Liberty – It means reasonable opportunity for everyone to earn his daily bread.

It implies economic freedom wherein a labourer is assured of a just reward. This freedom creates harmonious industrial system in which every man will produce only that which he is capable of producing and the community will have need for what he produces.

Economic liberty also implies the absence of economic inequalities which can become economic constraints.

It is understood as a security that the economically weak will not be at the mercy of economically strong. It tends to resist the concentration of economic control.

According to Laski, economic liberty means, “security and the opportunity to find reasonable significance in the earning of one‟s daily bread.” It implies that the citizen must be free from the constant fear of unemployment and insufficiency which, perhaps more than any other inadequacy takes away the whole strength of personality. The citizen, “must be safeguarded against the wants of

tomorrow.” The citizen must be able to make his personality flow through his effort as a producer of services, and “find in that effort the capacity of enrichment.” He further says that economic liberty implies democracy in industry.

Restrictions and Safeguards of Liberty

Absolute liberty is dangerous. It supports the dictum that, „might is right.‟ Such unrestricted freedom is ultimately denial of equality along with freedom of others. Certain safeguards are devised to check liberty. Some of them are; prevention of others, general public utility, equity, national unity, security and sovereignty of the country, peace and order in the society, etc.

Liberty also involves certain safeguards. Just law is the vital condition of liberty. Law can destroy, law can upheld conditions of liberty. Democratic polity is prerequisite of liberty. In democracy widespread enjoyment of liberty is dependent on the respect for minority rights and on the widespread habit of tolerance in a community. An independent judiciary and a healthy development of local self-governing institutions further help liberty. Constitutional government, a charter of fundamental rights, a tradition of constructive public opinion and eternal vigilance are other sure safeguards of liberty.

Importance of Liberty:- It is a very important political value.

1) It is one of the pillars of democracy. a democratic government is meaningful only if people enjoy liberty. Love for liberty teaches individuals to oppose injustice. It puts a check on the activities of the government.

2) Liberty is the most precious aspect of human life. Only liberty can bring about all-round development of human personality.

Summary table of liberty:-

Liberty

Meaning of liberty Characteristic Types of liberty Safeguards Importance Two aspects Features Of liberty Of liberty

Natural Personal National civil Political Economic

Equality:- The American Declaration of Independence, 1776 proclaims that, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” The French Declaration of 1789 also proclaimed,” men are born and live free

and equal in their rights.” Both the documents underlines the fact that Equality is a protest ideal, a symbol of man‟s revolt against chance, fortuitous disparity, unjust power, crystallized privilege.

Equality is difficult and controversial notion in politics. It is a fact that humans are not equal. They have differences in their mental, moral qualities or their attitudes and abilities. The demand for equality dose not neglect the differences among humans. It is a protest against unjust, undeserved, and unjustified inequalities, for hierarchies of worth and ability never satisfactorily corresponds to effective hierarchies of power. Demand for equality provides necessary motion to break the inertia of human society, which constantly tends to perpetuate the existing vertical structures. Such structures perpetuate themselves with nurturing the belief that each man should live according to his station? And by means of routine, custom, and traditional social mechanisms. The ideal of equality works against such force of gravity inherent in politico-socio organisms.

Meaning

Thus the very differences in the nature of men require mechanisms for the expression of their wills that give to each its due hearing. In brief, equality refers to the equal enjoyment of rights by all citizens and absence of any discrimination based on status, race or sex.

The principle that all men are equal only means that they ought to be treated in the same manner in certain vital respects. It means impartiality of treatment. According to Harold J. Laski equality means „the absence of special privilege‟ availability of „adequate opportunities‟ „open to all.‟ It is fundamentally a leveling process.

Marx argued for equality as „an end to class domination‟ and „ economic exploitation of man by man.‟

Dimensions of Equality:- These definitions shows two aspects of Liberty –

1) Negative aspect – It means absence of special privileges.

2) Positive aspect – It means that adequate opportunities should be made available to all.

Legal Dimension of Equality

Legal dimension of Equality is essential ingredient of liberal democracy. Legal equality implies that every individual is equal before the law and is entitled to and can claim equal protection of the laws. In modern democratic states, law neither allows special privileges to any particular class nor confers unequal rights on, or claim unequal obligations from, different categories of citizens.

Equality before the law dose not guarantee equal treatment by the law but equal access to the law, and consideration only of those factors laid down by law as relevant.

Legal equality dose not mean that any two persons must always be treated exactly alike. It claims that the grounds for deciding between two persons should be only those laid down by law, and not any legally extraneous ones, whether unreasonable grounds of moral sentiments or Natural law, or unreasonable ones of private caprice. Application of legal dimension is contextual. Division of labour and distributive justice provides ground for legitimate unequal treatment to certain classes or categories of individuals or groups.

Equality before the law basically denotes equal enjoyment of certain fundamental rights and duties.

Political Dimension of Equality

Political equality implies equal access to political power. This form of equality is closely associated with liberal democratic form of government. The concrete expression of political equality is the conferment, on all adult citizens, of the right to vote and its corollaries, the right to contest for public office and equal eligibility for administrative and judicial posts provided the necessary technical qualifications are fulfilled. In short, political equality denotes the equality of political rights of citizens.

This notion of equality is heavily discarded by many. According to elitist theory, „ordinary citizens, even when they have votes, have no real access to political power.‟ In democratic political system power is contested by political parties which are themselves controlled by a clique or self appointed leaders.’ According to Laski, “political equality, is never real unless it is accompanied by virtual economic equality; political power, otherwise is bound to be the handmaid of economic power,” Marx ridiculed the notion of equality in a society based on capitalism.

Socio-Economical Dimensions of Equality

It is generally agreed that legal and political dimensions alone are not adequate to interpret equality because it ignores the basic fundamental aspect of equality, i.e., its socio-economic dimensions.

If the legal and political equalities are of the formal type, economic and social equalities are substantive and of the material type. First is apparent and second is real equality.

Literally it implies the attempt to expunge all differences in wealth, allotting to every man and woman an equal share in worldly goods.

But practically it is difficult to follow this meaning. Properly interpreted, economic equality means the provision of adequate

opportunities for all in the material sense of equalising the starting-points, that is, creating by means of a relatively equal distribution of wealth the material conditions for equal access to opportunities. In Marxian sense it demands State ownership of all wealth.

The principle of social equality remains a characteristically democratic preoccupation.

Characteristic Features of Equality:-

1) Absolute equality i.e., complete identity of treatment and reward is not desirable.

2) Men are by nature unequal in their capacity 3) It is basically a leveling process.

4) It is essential for social justice.

5) It means equal opportunities to all.

6) It means absence of special privileges to any one.

7) Essential things must be provided to all.

Types of Equality:-

Based on the practical application the concept of Equality can be classified into four types.

Ontological Equality:

This form of equality has its base in religious and moral tradition. It is expressed in the religious belief that all persons are equal before God. Natural theorists stressed an essential equality of human beings qua human beings. In modern scientific world this notion is quiet ineffective to argue in favour of equality. But Marxism takes similar position when it asserted that all human beings are knowledgeable, conscious and practical agents. All human beings have to labour productively to produce their means of existence and reproduce their own species.

Equality of Opportunity:

It means that access to important social institutions should be open to all on universalistic grounds. Especially by achievement and talent. The debate about equality of opportunity was especially important in the development of modern educational institutions where promotion and attainment were in theory based upon intelligence, skill and talent regardless of parental and class background; in terms of universal criteria of achievement, not on ascribed standards of age, sex or wealth.

Equality of Condition:

Equality of opportunity is closely linked to equality of condition.

Equality opportunity rewards those who have ability and who are prepared to exercise their skills in the interest of personal

achievement in a competitive situation. In order for equality of opportunity to have any significant content, it is essential to guarantee equality of condition, that is, all competitors should start at the same time.

Equality of Outcome

It stressed on equality of result regardless of starting point and natural ability. It seeks to transform inequalities at the beginning into social equalities as a conclusion. Social programmes of positive discrimination in favour of disadvantaged or disprivileged groups are meant to compensate for significant inequalities of condition in order to bring about a meaningful equality of opportunity to secure an equality of result.

Evaluation of the notion of Equality;

Importance of Equality –

1) A peaceful society can be developed only on the solid foundation of equality. The history is full of wars, clashes and revolutions because there was absence of equality.

2) Equality is a necessary precondition for enjoyment of liberty.

Without equality liberty becomes a privilege of some people 3) Equality promotes justice

Equality is `highly contested‟ concept. It is one of the leading ideals of the body politic; it is the most controversial of the great social ideals. It is the essence of social justice. Along with other ideals it is the basic core of today‟s egalitarianism. Despite various differences it serves to remind us of our common humanity. In social sciences we use the concept of equality in number of ways. e.g. Equality before the law, equality of opportunity, equality of outcome, gender equality, racial equality, social equality etc. There is no single acceptable, common notion of the term equality.

Apart from common meaning of the term the value of equality itself is attacked by many thinkers and school of thoughts. In ancient Greece Aristotle justified inequality when he justified slavery. He contented that slavery was natural an reasonable institution because there was a fundamental difference and inequalities among men. In his words, „some are marked out for subjection, others for rule.‟ Cicero contradicts these arguments of Aristotle, According to him, `men differ indeed in learning, but they are equal in the faculty of learning‟, `nature has given to all men reasons.‟

Main obstacles in the implementation of equality:-

1) Social- Age old customs, traditions and superstitions creale inequality of social status.

2) Political – Political power is enjoyed by people belonging to certain castes and certain families. This means absence of equal opportunities.

3) Economic – There is concentration of economic wealth in the hands of few.

Following are some common arguments against equality;

The different components of equality are often, mutually incompatible. For example, equality of opportunity and condition tend to produce inequality of results. The notion of equality of opportunity is characteristic of liberalism and some versions of liberalism are content to accept a situation where inequality of outcome is predominant.

A political programme to secure equality generally would be feasible, since to secure radical equality of condition or equality of outcome would require massive social and political regulation by the state resulting in a totalitarian and authoritarian regime. The price of significant equality is political despotism which would subordinate individual talent and achievement.

The achievement of equality ma be incompatible with other values which are also desirable than personal liberty, or at least that liberty and equality are somewhat mutually exclusive.

Table on equality :-

Table on equality

Meaning Dimensions Features Types Evaluation Two aspects Of Equality

Importance Obstacles

Legal Political Social - Economic

Ontological Of opportunity Of condition Of outcome

Justice-Procedural, Distributive

Meaning:- The word „justice‟ has been derived from the Latin term justitia, which means the idea of joining or fitting, the idea of bond or tie. The joining of fitting implied in the idea of justice is that between man and man in an organized system of human relations.

According to Barker justice is not only about binding man and man but also is the reconciler and the synthesis of political values.

It is their union in an adjusted and integrated whole.

Rawls, “Justice is a set of principles for defining the appropriate distribution of benefits and burdens of social co-operation after

identifying the relevant considerations which determine this balance.”

Nature of Justice

It is one of the most provocative concept that contain the essence of values like Liberty, equality, rights, fraternity, dignity etc. In common parlance it is employed as just behavior or treatment, the quality of being fair and reasonable. The essence of justice is in achieving proper balance,. In legal sense it means fair trial, a just sentence. In political theory, justice has concerned both the terms of membership of a social group and the distribution of burdens and benefits within that group. In first sense it is called as social justice while in second sense it is known as distributive justice.

Plato attempts to assimilate virtue of justice with the pursuit of the common good. According to him every member of society should perform their social functions without interrupting work of others. He designed an ideal state with fixed statuses and locations of its members and thus balances in their personal roles and social functions. Aristotle was of the opinion that justice denotes an equality of proportion between person and things assigned to them, i.e., those differences in treatment should be proportional to the degrees to which individuals differ in relevant respects.

The liberal view of justice emphasized on legal and political dimensions. The rule of law i.e. equality before law and equal protection of laws with provision for civil and political rights to participate in the political process are the determining characteristics of modern liberal democratic school of thought.

Barker has shown that justice represents synthesis of the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. Human relations are guided by faculty of reason present in humans. It is this virtue of reason that convinces humans that all human are equal in dignity and potentially capable of acquiring excellence according to their capacities and making suitable contributions to the social good.

They all need and deserve equal freedom for personal development in their own right so as to prove their worth to society. Unrestricted freedom to some is denial of liberty to others. Value of liberty demands proper balance by equality. At the same time forced or imposed equality is detrimental to the development of creative and productive tendencies of individuals. Undue emphasis on equality is against the liberty of the people. Fraternity among humans provides a common bond that keeps human relations harmonious and helps to solve and content antagonistic tendencies between liberty and equality. Thus finally justice implies that liberty should be qualified by the principle of equality and equality is further qualified by the principle of fraternity.