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John Locke’s Political Power Vis-À-vis Abuse Of Power In Nigeria
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“the best form of government is that in
which the sovereignty or the supreme controlling power in the last
resort is vested in the entire aggregate of the community, every citizen
not only having a voice in the exercise of the ultimate sovereignty,
but being, at least occasionally, called on to take on actual part in
the government, by the personal discharge of some public function, local
or general.â€[11]
This in no doubt presents a true government that
is devoid of tyranny and despotism. Power is reasonably and considerably
utilized.
The next person is Karl Marx who brought about his theory
of dialectical materialism. According to him, the state is divided into
two unequal parts, namely the bourgeoisie and the proletariat classes.
It is a state of class struggle and conflict between the bourgeois class
and the proletariat class. Such a state could be referred to as “a
state of the survival of the fittestâ€; each of the classes struggling to
survive. In fact, it is a situation, which involves a serious struggle
of opponents. Thus, the state, according to him, is the society under
the control of the bourgeois class. They, as the rulers, dictate their
will and interests in the state in the form of law and institutions.
This situation was viewed as characterized by struggle, antagonism,
domination and all sorts of inhuman treatment. Therefore, it is his
dream that there will be a time when everything will be normalized. This
will eventually give birth to a classless society of citizens with
equal rights. This will come about when the proletariat revolts against
the ruling class and overthrow them in order to set up communism. Then
this state of equal right will give everybody equal opportunity of
participation in a true democracy. Communism according to Marx is:
“The
positive transcendence of private property or human estrangement, the
real appropriation of the human essence by and for man…genuine
resolution of the conflict between man and nature, and between man and
man…â€[12]
By communism Marx meant a time when capitalism (the
oppressive system), with its concomitant evils, will be destroyed
through revolution by the oppressed (masses). This will bring to an end
the exploitation of man by man, the end of alienation, the end of
conflicts and antagonism among men. Also, private property and private
ownership of the means of production will be abolished and the goods of
the society will be owned by all. The same revolution will introduce a
classless society where everybody will be equal and man determines for
himself in his natural state. With the disappearance of class
distinction in this new society which communism will usher in, the state
will equally disappear since the state is simply an instrument of class
rule. Thus, the final goal of Marxism is to set up “a classless and
stateless communist society in which there will be no more conflicts,
antagonism among men, exploitation, poverty, everybody will be free,
happy and live in peace with his fellow man.â€13 And so, the positive
transcendence of human estrangement which Marx is talking about is
realized when man has been able to subdue his tendency to keep
acquiring, which is done through revolution against capitalism. This
will then give man the opportunity to use and make real appropriation of
the human resources to reach everybody in the communist society.
[1]M. I. Nwoko, Basic World Political Theories ( Ancient- Contemporary ), p. 15
[2]M. I. Nwoko, Ibid. p. 28
[3] City of God, bk. ii. chap. 20, p.75
[4]Summa Theologica, IIa Hae, Quest. 57, Art. 1 ff.
[5]M. I. Nwoko, op. cit., p. 53
[6] M. I. Nwoko, op. cit., p. 72
[7]T. Hobbes, Leviathan, p. 100
[8] M. I. Nwoko, op. cit., p. 82
[9]S. E. Stumpf, Philosophy: History and Problems, 5th ed., 1994, p. 273
[10] J. S. Mill, On Liberty, ch. 1, p. 267
[11]J. S. Mill, Representative Government, ch. 2, (p. 336 of G. B. W. W. vol. 43)
[12] K. Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscript of 1844
13
J. I. Omoregbe, A Simplified History of Western Philosophy, vol.11
Modern Philosophy, (Lagos: Joja Educational Research and Publishers
Ltd., 2001) P. 149
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