NCJ Number
121694
Date Published
1989
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The assumptions about the nature and limits of civil disobedience have their foundations in traditional liberal theory, which allows a much broader range of disobedience than has generally been assumed.
Abstract
Civil disobedience can be considered to be "extraordinary politics," falling between ordinary politics and revolution. The assumptions first made by Hobbes and accepted by Locke continue to underlie much contemporary thinking about disobedience. Their theories provide justification not only for traditional civil disobedience, which can be regarded as a form of speech, but also for resistance to the government. This resistance can vary in the degree to which it is coercive, the scope and importance of the area in which the disobedient citizen challenges the government's authority, the number of people involved in the protest, the closeness of the disobedience to the law or policy being protested, and the extent to which it violates the rights of other citizens. In justifying disobedience, disobedients must consider the extent of the good desired, the danger the disobedience poses to the system, and the extent to which they approve of the system. 25 reference notes.