Liberty-Finder » Political Concepts

Panarchism

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 09:15:50 +0000

Panarchism is a political philosophy emphasizing each individual’s right to freely join and leave the jurisdiction of any governments they choose, without being forced to move from their current locale. The word “panarchy” was invented and the concept proposed by a Belgian political economist, Paul Émile de Puydt in an article called “Panarchy” published in 1860. The word “panarchy” has since taken on additional, separate meanings, with the word “panarchism” referring to the original definition by de Puydt.

DePudyt, a proponent of laissez-faire economics, wrote that “governmental competition” would allow “as many regularly competing governments as have ever been conceived and will ever be invented” to exist simultaneously and detailed how such a system would be implemented. As David M. Hart writes: “Governments would become political churches, only having jurisdiction over their congregations who had elected to become members.” (CC Wikipedia 05/03/2010)

Democracy

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:09:14 +0000

Democracy is a political government carried out either directly by the people (direct democracy) or by means of elected representatives of the people (Representative democracy). The term is derived from the Greek: δημοκρατία - (dēmokratía) “rule of the people”, which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos) “people” and κράτος (krátos) “power”, in the middle of the fifth-fourth century BC to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens following a popular uprising in 508 BC. Even though there is no specific, universally accepted definition of ‘democracy’, there are two principles that any definition of democracy includes: equality and freedom. These principles are reflected in all citizens being equal before the law and having equal access to power and the freedom of its citizens is secured by legitimized rights and liberties which are generally protected by a constitution.

There are several varieties of democracy, some of which provide better representation and more freedoms for their citizens than others. However, if any democracy is not carefully legislated – through the use of balances – to avoid an uneven distribution of political power, such as the separation of powers, then a branch of the system of rule could accumulate power and become harmful to the democracy itself. (CC Wikipedia 04/25/2010)

Nation

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 07:45:54 +0000

A nation is a grouping of people who share common history, culture, language and ethnic origin, often possessing or seeking its own government. The development and conceptualization of a nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, although nationalists would trace nations into the past along uninterrupted lines of historical narrative. (CC Wikipedia 04/24/2010)

Parliament

admin — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:53:32 +0000

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French parlement, the action of parler (to speak): a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which such a discussion took place. It acquired its modern meaning as it came to be used for the body of people (in an institutional sense) who would meet to discuss matters of state. (CC Wikipedia 04/23/2010)

Socialism

admin — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:24:05 +0000

Socialism is a political philosophy that encompasses various theories of economic organization which advocate either public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources. A more comprehensive definition of socialism is an economic system that directly maximizes use-values as opposed to exchange-values and has transcended commodity production and wage labor, along with a corresponding set of social and economic relations, including the organization of economic institutions and method of resource allocation; often implying a method of compensation based on individual merit, the amount of labor expended or individual contribution.

Socialists generally share the view that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and derives its wealth through a system of exploitation. This in turn creates an unequal society, that fails to provide equal opportunities for everyone to maximise their potential, and does not utilise technology and resources to their maximum potential nor in the interests of the public. (CC Wikipedia 04/23/2010)

Common Law

admin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 20:31:22 +0000

Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals (also called case law), rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A “common law system” is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different occasions. The body of precedent is called “common law” and it binds future decisions. In cases where the parties disagree on what the law is, an idealized common law court looks to past precedential decisions of relevant courts. If a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is bound to follow the reasoning used in the prior decision (this principle is known as stare decisis). If, however, the court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous cases (called a “matter of first impression”), judges have the authority and duty to make law by creating precedent. Thereafter, the new decision becomes precedent, and will bind future courts.

In practice, common law systems are considerably more complicated than the idealized system described above. The decisions of a court are binding only in a particular jurisdiction, and even within a given jurisdiction, some courts have more power than others. For example, in most jurisdictions, decisions by appellate courts are binding on lower courts in the same jurisdiction and on future decisions of the same appellate court, but decisions of lower courts are only non-binding persuasive authority. Interactions between common law, constitutional law, statutory law and regulatory law also give rise to considerable complexity. However stare decisis, the principle that similar cases should be decided according to consistent principled rules so that they will reach similar results, lies at the heart of all common law systems. (CC Wikipedia 03/28/2010)

Minarchism

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:17:09 +0000

In civics, minarchism (sometimes called minimal statism, small government, or limited-government libertarianism.) refers to a political ideology which maintains that the state‘s only legitimate function is the protection of individuals from aggression. (Such states are sometimes called night watchman states.) Minarchists defend the existence of the state as a necessary evil, but assert that it may only act to protect the life, liberty, and property of each individual.

A minarchist state would therefore consist of very few branches/parts of government, in the most minimal way – such as, for an example, courts (but not necessarily). Generally, minarchists identify themselves within the broader propertarian libertarian movement. (CC Wikipedia – 03/23/2010)

Secession

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:15:17 +0000

Secession (derived from the Latin term secessio) is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals. (CC Wikipedia – 03/17/2010)

Conservatism

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:49:25 +0000

Conservatism is a political attitude that advocates institutions and traditional practices that have developed organically, thus emphasizing stability and continuity. The first established use of the term in a political context was by François-René de Chateaubriand in 1819, following the French Revolution. The term has since been used to describe a variety of politicians with a wide range of views.

In Western politics, the term conservatism often refers to the school of thought based on British politician Edmund Burke‘s criticism of the French Revolution. Though his legacy as a conservative is disputed, he wrote against the excesses of mob rule. (CC Wikipedia – 02/28/2010)

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 03:35:43 +0000

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is a fundamental document of the French Revolution, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of natural rights, the rights of Man are universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. Although it establishes fundamental rights for French citizens and all men without exception, it addresses neither the status of women nor slavery; despite that, it is a precursor document to international human rights instruments. (CC Wikipedia 02/28/2010)