Theory

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment has long been considered the origin of modern Western political theory and intellectual culture. The Enlightenment brought political modernization to the West, and introduced democratic values and insitutions that shaped the creation of modern liberal democracies. These values and institutions include the social contract, the rule of law, checks and balances, separation of powers, and the separation of church and state, among others.

With regards to rights and the state, the three most influential political philosophers of the Enlightenment were Thomas Hobbes, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke. Although each philosopher accepted the idea of a social contract between man and state, they each had very different viewpoints on what role the state has in protecting human rights and upholding civil society. Hobbes states that no one is really free, and man must give up his rights to the state in exchange for protection. Rousseau states that man has been corrupted by civilization and the role of the state is to bring man into his natural harmony. Locke states that man exists in a state of natural freedom, and the state has a moral obligation to protect that natural freedom. 

What Are Human Rights?

There are a number of overlapping and competing paradigms that help define what human rights are. The dominant theory of human rights in liberal, or Western, political thought originates from John Locke's theory of inalienable rights. Specifically, there are three inalienable rights that Locke values in his paradigm:

Life: everyone is entitled to live.

Liberty: everyone is entitled to do anything they want to so long as it doesn't conflict with the first right.

Property: everyone is entitled to own all they create or gain through gift or trade so long as it doesn't conflict with the first two rights.

Over time, this classification became known as natural, or negative rights. This first set of rights existed opposite of what became known as legal, or positive rights. Negative rights are defined as “freedoms from encroachment” perpetuated by the state, while positive rights are “participatory rights" that citizens can access (Cullen 2010).