The Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate Authority
This article examines the Levellers’ doctrine of legitimate authority, by showing how it emerged as a critique of theories of absolute sovereignty. For the Levellers, any arbitrary power is tyrannical, insofar as it reduces human beings to an unnatural condition. Legitimate authority is necessarily...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidad de Sevilla
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Araucaria |
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| Online Access: | http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=28264625008 |
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| _version_ | 1832085635723165696 |
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| author | Eunice Ostrensky |
| author_facet | Eunice Ostrensky |
| author_sort | Eunice Ostrensky |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article examines the Levellers’ doctrine of legitimate authority, by showing how it emerged as a critique of theories of absolute sovereignty. For the Levellers, any arbitrary power is tyrannical, insofar as it reduces human beings to an unnatural condition. Legitimate authority is necessarily founded on the people, who creates the constitutional order and remains the locus of political power. The Levellers also contend that parliamentary representation is not the only mechanism by which the people may acquire a political being; rather the people outside Parliament are the collective agent able to transform and control institutions and policies. In this sense, the Levellers hold that a highly participative community should exert sovereignty, and that decentralized government is a means to achieve that goal. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fc55f88e757c4186905bf7437129cff3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1575-6823 2340-2199 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | Universidad de Sevilla |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Araucaria |
| spelling | doaj-art-fc55f88e757c4186905bf7437129cff32025-02-06T16:09:06ZengUniversidad de SevillaAraucaria1575-68232340-21992018-01-012039157186The Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate AuthorityEunice OstrenskyThis article examines the Levellers’ doctrine of legitimate authority, by showing how it emerged as a critique of theories of absolute sovereignty. For the Levellers, any arbitrary power is tyrannical, insofar as it reduces human beings to an unnatural condition. Legitimate authority is necessarily founded on the people, who creates the constitutional order and remains the locus of political power. The Levellers also contend that parliamentary representation is not the only mechanism by which the people may acquire a political being; rather the people outside Parliament are the collective agent able to transform and control institutions and policies. In this sense, the Levellers hold that a highly participative community should exert sovereignty, and that decentralized government is a means to achieve that goal.http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=28264625008limited sovereigntyconstitutionpeoplelawrights |
| spellingShingle | Eunice Ostrensky The Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate Authority Araucaria limited sovereignty constitution people law rights |
| title | The Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate Authority |
| title_full | The Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate Authority |
| title_fullStr | The Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate Authority |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate Authority |
| title_short | The Levellers’ Conception of Legitimate Authority |
| title_sort | levellers conception of legitimate authority |
| topic | limited sovereignty constitution people law rights |
| url | http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=28264625008 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT euniceostrensky thelevellersconceptionoflegitimateauthority AT euniceostrensky levellersconceptionoflegitimateauthority |