The Benefits of Liberalism - Essay Example

Question: 7. what’s wrong with liberalism? Who benefits from liberalism? What are its characteristics? How far is it dependent on the law? Is the law as impartial as liberals would like to claim? What sort of ways of behaving does it presuppose? How does Foucault interpret liberal approaches to punishment are they really better than older forms? What weaknesses does liberalism have for Schmitt? The Benefits of Liberalism Liberalism refers to political and moral philosophy that centres on two principles: individualism and liberty. Liberalism puts a person as an individual at the heart of society. It believes that the greatest social value orders are those built around an individual (Michel Foucault, 57). Besides, liberals believe that the purpose of the society is to help individuals to reach their full potential by providing them with liberty. On this note, the following paper intends to discuss liberalism, the beneficiaries of this concept, its characteristic, as well as the scope of its dependence on law. The interpretation of liberal approaches to punishment by Foucault has as well been outlined, including the weaknesses of liberalism in relation to Schmitt. Despite the fact that some scholars do not support liberalism, it must be accepted that it has brought many benefits in the society, as opposed to a few shortcomings, and therefore succeeding in this time and age. In order to illustrate this argument, this paper starts by outlining some characteristics of liberalism, followed by its dependence on law. Thirdly, Foucault’s interpretation and the weaknesses of liberalism by Schmitt are given, before shortcomings and benefits of liberalism are discussed. Liberalism, as a system of politics, has various characteristics to which its followers conform. To begin with, they believe in absolute value for human personality and spiritual equality of the individual (Carl Schmitt, 13). According to them, the liberal world liberates individuals from total subservience to the group. In turn, the government meets the needs of these persons at an individual level (Georges Sorel, 109). Further, the states commit to serving the needs of the population at a personal level. Liberalism promotes the autonomy of the individual will. In this form of governance, the individual is the focus. The governments thus work to make the living of these persons better. Besides, liberal governance promotes the essential rationality and goodness of man. They hold that humans are reasonable beings with the ability to settle their political disagreement with talks. Therefore, they promote the use of justice, prompting avenues like courts of law, League of Nations and the United Nations. Finally, in the liberal world, truth is accessible to man’s natural reason. In order to protect individuals, liberal governments entirely depend on laws. In this case, the society’s fundamental law secures the individual rights and constitutional guarantees. Law acts as a way of shaping the politics of the liberal world (Webber Peter, 98).The interpretation enforcement and possible amendment of the law are individual-based. The liberal societies also depend on favourable laws in ensuring that individual needs are met. As far as fairness of the law to liberalism is concerned, it is common belief among liberals that law is always fair. The government justice system is the best. The judicial system has the police and the judges, which the law requires to safeguard the individuals’ life and liberty. However, the coercive power of the law can be turned against them if they fail. In the liberal world, all are equal before the law and will be punished to the latter of this law (p.67). Compared to realists and conservatisms, the liberal have an expression of open-mindedness. They can accommodate and accept the choice of others and they do believe in the ability of the individuals to make right decisions affecting their lives. This is reflected on how they accommodate the people who seem to be outcasts in other societies, for instance, those who abort, the gays and lesbians and those who practice euthanasia. In the open-mindedness, the rights of the others are respected and individuals embrace change (Karl Marx, 735). Foucault describes three types of punishments and how they change over time. In these, he refers to the festive pain of the target of punishment, as well as how the shape and function of this discipline have changed, including the difference between the humans and the soul. In addition, he describes how power change has affected punishment. Finally, he criticizes the norms of the society, challenges and how people accept the unsettled values. The liberal society is characterized by the prison system of punishment compared to the monarchical punishment of the past (Foucault, 116). In the past, punishments were highly public and this terrified people. However, the current punishment is secretive and hidden. Similarly, there is a shift in the objective of punishment in the liberal world. In this, people focus on punishment of the mind, rather than the body. In the liberal world, the aim of punishment is to eliminate future crime (Carl Schmitt, 42). However, in the old forms of punishment, the aim was to eradicate the past evil and crimes. Violence dominates in all forms of sentences, but in liberal world, punishment varies over a length of time. According to Schmitt, there are many flaws to freedom in the liberal world. First, he flaws the fact that one’s moral concept of goodness or badness “will never play a role in a relationship of political enemity. Secondly, it is taken that there is no moral authority for an individual to judge an external perspective on whether the group is morally just or not. “Only members of the group are in a position to decide and from the standpoint of an existentially affected participant (Michel Foucault, 112), Whether the other group amounts to a threat to their form of life and thus potentially requires to be fought”. Schmitt also criticises the tendency of the liberal world to judge between a friend and an enemy. There are many injustices associated with liberalism as a political system. Firstly, liberalism ignores the fundamental human problems that a group experiences. The “Liberalism’s purpose is to create a framework, within which people can function, act, and think as creating beings”. Therefore, liberalism denies these people a construct public model that can provide secure freedom for everyone. The role of the government to achieve equal opportunity for all is not achievable (Carl Schmitt, 112). As the government can meet the social ills and protect the civil liberties and individuals, it is hard to satisfy the needs of the minorities (p.67).Thus, the emphasis of the liberal policies for the government to solve the problems of the individuals is hard to achieve. Besides, there is no moral impulse behind the liberal thinking. Most liberal thinkers have an aim of empowering individuals, thus “freeing men from the bondage” that is arbitrary to the free will of citizens. Finally, liberals disagree on whether to promote individual freedom or protect this freedom. This has been an issue since the 20th century. For instance, liberalism advocates abortion by claiming that the foetus is not a human .This promotes the individual freedom but fails to protect the freedom of the other. Similarly, the liberal political system cultures terrorism. In this system when the views of the minorities are not heard they use terrorist activities as form of communication. In the liberal world, the principal beneficiaries are minorities. These minorities, however, benefit at the individual levels. Liberalism is disastrous to the vast majority because it limits its application to the individuals (Thomas Hobbes, 87). One of the benefits to individuals includes the fact that it promotes the freedom towards human rights, by providing and safeguarding this political system. Therefore, it ensures respect for the rights of individuals and they lead quality life. Furthermore, in protection of human freedom, this system eliminates those factors that are likely to limit human freedoms, for instance poverty, disease, ignorance and discrimination. Liberalism creates generations that strive for equality and constructing a society that includes every person. It has eliminated the “dominance of the wealthy and those who were once considered dominant elites. Finally, freedom provides the individuals with diversity and accommodation of their issues. For instance, freedom to abort provides the individuals with choices to live better lives. It is prudent to accept that pure liberal systems have utilized these channels correctly in eliminating wars and other irrational injustices such as terrorism. Besides, progressive liberal systems value all fundamental rights of individuals. These include rights of liberty, life and property. For the liberals, the existence of the state is based on a mutual consent to protect these fundamental rights. Similarly, in liberalism, the powers of government ensure the protection and promotion of the freedom of individuals. In this system, there is a contractual relationship between the state and individuals (Georges Sorel, 109). Further, political leaders are given powers on condition that they will meet individual needs. Besides, they make promises when they seek for the elections, which they work to meet. Therefore, the benefits that liberal forms of governments bring to people are indisputable. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is clear that liberalism has played a pivotal role in ensuring that some social injustices are eliminated. Further, despite the common argument that liberals fail to distinguish suitably between friends and enemies, it has assisted in the protection of individual rights. The continued globalization of the world economies means that governments should liberalize their political systems to allow flow of goods and service without many restrictions. It must however be emphasized that there are those individuals, groups or organizations that take advantage of liberalism to practice social injustices such as terrorism. This calls for concerted efforts among governments. Work cited Carl Schmitt: The concept of political. The University of Chicago Press. London.1992.p.print Georges Sorel, Jeremy Jennings Reflections on Violence. University of Birmingham.p.109.p127 Michel Foucault And The Free-Market Creed,.” Modern Intellectual History :Vintage publishers. New York City:2009: p.195. print Karl Marx, ‘Communist Manifesto’ in Karl Marx: Selected Writings, 2nd edn, ed. D. McLellan (Oxford: Oxford University Press), p.735. Thomas Hobbes Leviathan. History of political thought; Harvard University Press p.87- p.121.print Webber Peter Lassman and Ronald Political. Writings Speirs: University of Birmingham. p.98. Press: print. Read More