The most common feature in theories of state formation expounded by political philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes in his works Leviathan, John Locke in his two Treatises on government and Jean Jacques Rousseau in The social Contract, is the concept of human nature & law of nature. The three theorists begin from a point in the state of nature where relations were governed majorly by law of nature rooted in human nature. For Hobbes, human nature is characterized by selfishness, greed, lust for power and lack of empathy and as such, it is a state of anarchy. Here, “every man is an enemy to every man” Man seeks to dominate others and there is no morality. To bring societal order, man created a government to which he submitted his sovereign rights to self-preservation in absoluteness. On the other hand, for Locke, the state of nature is one where man is naturally free and where human beings are not enemies of their own kind. It is a state of true liberty though not of license. Locke posits two contracts, the first being between the people themselves culminating into the creation of a society and the second one being between the people as a body politic and the rulers. Locke’s second contract creates a government limited by a constitution and founded on the people’s sovereign authority. Three things were lacking in Locke’s state of nature; a judge, a written code of laws and an enforcer of the law. Individuals are however conscious of the law of nature and as such they relate in a harmonious way guided by that law with the exception of a few deviants. The need for government arose to suffice the desire to install a system of law and justice. The formation of a government is a secondary transaction and its dissolution doesn’t lead to destruction of society. Rousseau claims that men are naturally equal, self-sufficient and contented. It is due to inequalities that arose following the emergence of private property and the subsequent division of labor that necessitated government formation. Government therefore for him is a necessary evil whose existence is only warranted by the existence of inequalities which in essence are a creation of human beings. The contract is between the individuals in their personal capacity and the individuals in a corporate capacity and as such individuals pool their particular interests into the general will which is executed by governments.
Building on the above, one can argue that recognition and acknowledgement of human dignity emanates from inward morality that exists in each individual. Further, it is only when individuals have values such as compassion and empathy that human dignity can be contextualized and be realized. The individual has a duty to his kind, to protect their lives and to ensure he coexists in peace and harmony with them. It is the individual and not the government that can distinguish between right and evil and as such, the individual is the ultimate judge in matters of injustice and justice. Government is only necessary due to the existence of deviants who defy their conscience and seek to pursue selfish interests without putting into consideration the rights and privileges of the rest of humanity.
Further, it is beyond doubt that the individual should know his/her rights so as to preserve his/her dignity. Without knowing that he/she is the sovereign authority and not the government, that he alone with the support of others should form the general will representing the good of all which the government must execute, the individual will live in servitude and he will know no dignity. The government should be accountable to the body politic that formed it and therefore has no ultimate authority to inflict harm on humanity or demean law-abiding citizenry. If a government doesn’t create a platform for expansion of human dignity and civil liberty, then that government deserves to be replaced with one that holds close to its heart the interests of its citizenry.
The individual must therefore seek to safeguard and expand his/her dignity by contributing to the policy making process , being part of the civil society, presenting individual-sponsored bills and joining policy debates which in a nut shell instill and expand the ethos of civil libertarianism. The citizenry are responsible for their economic and socio-political well-being and it is critical that they elect into office a government that expresses the society`s general will which aims at achieving the greater good for all.
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