POLITICAL THEORY

Ch2- FREEDOM
MEANING OF FREEDOM

Freedom is the absence of constraints. This is the liberty to do whatever a person likes to do
without any constraints.An individual could be considered free if he/she is not subject to external
controls and is able to make independent decisions and act in an autonomous way. It is also
about expanding the ability of the people to freely express themselves and develop their
creativity, sensibilities and capabilities.
Freedom has two aspects-
 Absence of external constraints- an individual should not be forced to perform any action
which he/ she does not want to perform.
 Existence of conditions which expand freedom- This means that these should be
conditions available that make an individual enjoy his/her freedom more.
Both these freedom help individual to grow and develop his/her capabilities.
Thus, freedom is considered valuable because it allows us to make choices and to
exercise the individual’s power of reasoning and judgement.

SWARAJ

According to Mahatma Gandhi, the word ‘Swaraj’ means ‘self-rule’ and ‘self-restraint’. In the
context of India, Swaraj would mean ‘the government of India by the consent of the people’.
Real Swaraj according to him meant ‘continuous efforts to be independent of government
control, whether foreign or national.’ So freedom for Gandhiji was economic freedom meaning
removal of poverty and having employment, social freedom where people of different castes and
religion are not discriminated and are treated equally and cultural freedom where all religions
and cultures are equally respected.

SOURCES OF CONSTRAINTS

 Legal Restrictions- Constraints come from laws imposed by the government. Example
of constraints by law is the Apartheid System in South Africa. Here, the colonial rulers
discriminated between black and white people and imposed harsh laws on blacks.
 Social Constraints- It refers to constraints which arise from social practices. Examples
are caste system, the purdah system, gender inequality etc.
Subash Chandra Bose said that there should be freedom of rich and poor, freedom for
men and women, freedom for all classes and all individuals. Freedom does not only
means independence of India from British rule but equal distribution of wealth, the
abolition of caste, destruction of communalism and religious intolerance.

NEED FOR CONSTRAINTS

Liberty can never mean freedom to behave in an irresponsible way. In a society people
should be able to express their views, develop their own rules of living and pursue their
choices and creation of such societies too require constraints. Some constraints require
freedom, so that it does not harm the society and the individual can enjoy their freedom
as well. For instance- a restriction on freedom of thought and expression is required so
 that no one could become a nuisance to others. These constraints should be
democratically decided by people.
Thus, we need some legal and political restraints to ensure that differences may be
discussed and debated without one group coercively imposing its views on the other.

HARM PRINCIPLE

John Stuart Mill in his classic work ‘On Liberty’ says that freedom can be restrained only
by self-protection, that means if somebody’s freedom harm the other person then that
person’s freedom can be restricted.
 He said that man’s actions are of two kinds-
 Self Regarding Actions- It means actions which affect himself/herself only are
self regarding actions. These actions have consequences only for the individual
and nobody else. State has no business to interfere in the actions of people.
 Other Regarding Actions- Actions which affect the other person or harm
him/her are called other regarding actions.
 J.S. Mill says that since freedom is very important for human life it should be
constrained only in special circumstances.
 The harm caused must be serious. If it is a minor harm then there can be social
disapproval and not the force of law.
 For example- if somebody plays loud music then we should not call the police and
stop the music rather we should show society’s disapproval of it and there cannot
be legal punishment for it. The force of law should be used only when there is a
serious threat.
 J.S. Mill calls for tolerance of different views, interests and principles of people,
but if it harms others then it should be dealt by law. For e.g. we cannot ask for life
imprisonment for those who organise hate campaigns rather some restrictions can
be imposed on the movement which should be reasonable restrictions.

LIBERALISM

Liberalism has been identified with tolerance. It often defends the right of a person to
hold and express his/her opinions and beliefs. Modern liberalism focus on individual
choices and interests and entities like family, society and community have no value in
themselves but only if these are valued by individuals. Liberals give priority to individual
liberty rather than equality. Classical liberalism favoured free market and minimal role of
the state whereas present day liberalism accepted the role of the state and the need for
measures to reduce both social and economic inequalities.

NEGATIVE LIBERTY AND POSITIVE LIBERTY

Negative Liberty Positive Liberty

i) Negative Liberty is an area where there i) Positive liberty is an area where the state
cannot be any interference by anyone can interfere in the lives of individuals to
whether it be state, family, community etc. expand their liberty.
 ii) It explains the idea of ‘freedom from’ ii) It explains the idea of ‘freedom to’ means
that means freedom from the state, family, freedom to work, freedom to learn, play,
community etc. write etc.

iii) It is concerned with the area on non- iii) It recognizes that one can be free only in
interference and not with the conditions in society and hence tries to make such a
society. society which enables the development of an
individual.

iv) It may make the powerful person more iv) It ensures the growth of poor, weak and
powerful to keep the weaker ones at their downtrodden people also.
mercy.

Both negative and positive liberty are complementary to each other as well. We need both
the freedom of ‘unhindered choice’ in some private spheres as well as ‘desirable
restraints’ on some of our actions.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

 Freedom of expression is a fundamental value and is one area where there should
be minimum interference. For free exchange of knowledge and the free flow of
ideas there should be freedom to speak. This is a very important freedom
considering that many films, books, movies and plays are banned.
 There should not be hatred campaigns and hate speeches against anyone. Banning
should be there, but banning should not be done regularly, otherwise states get into
the habit of banning everytime. There are following limitations to this freedom-
a) Security of the state
b) Friendly relations with the foreign countries
c) Contempt of court
d) Defamation of any citizen

J.S. Mill offered a passionate defence of freedom of expression, including freedom of

thought and discussion.
 Mill says that no idea in this world is false.
 Truth does not emerge by itself, it is only through debates and discussions that
truth emerges.
 The conflict of ideas is important not only for past but for present and future also.
Only when the truth is exposed to constant criticism, it becomes trustworthy.
 We cannot be sure what we considered true is actually true. Ideas which were true
at one point of time are false at another point of time.
 Mill says that a society that completely suppresses all ideas that are not acceptable
today, runs the danger of losing the benefits of what might turn out to be very
valuable knowledge.