Download Political Theories

Political Theories
How did the ancient Athenian citizen oath address the issue of the governmental responsibility to
future generations? How do the theories posited by Edmund Burke, John Locke and David
Hume relate to inter-generational government responsibility? How does the aforementioned
political theories associated with government’s responsibility to future generations relate to the
contemporary issue of environmental policy in the United States? Respond to at least two of
your classmates’ postings.
ANSWER 1
The ancient Athenian citizen oath is a formal oath towards the country by the Athenian citizens.
According to Frederickson and Stazyk, 2010 the oath was ‘We will ever strive for the ideals and
sacred things of the city, both alone and with many; we will unceasingly seek to quicken the
sense of public duty: we will revere and obey the city's laws; we will transmit this city not only
not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.’
This oath addressed the whole era at once. It says the world will be hand over to the future
generation as the present receives it. In the present days the whole world depends on the
decisions taken by the government. So according to this oath the country has to be given to the
future leader for the future generation maintains its present quality. So the present government
has to preserve the present economic, cultural, political, environmental stability. The up
gradation can be done but by oath the government cannot degrade the present quality.
The theories by Edmund Burke, John Locke and David Hume relates very closely to
the intergenerational government responsibility. Edmund Burke said to build a moral contact.
This contact will be cross generational and will helps in bounding the communities. Thus the
adjacent governments will be involved in this conjunction for making a sustainable and happier
tomorrow. Form the view of John Locke (Locke, 1965, p. 333) all individuals have equal right
on the natural resources. But the possessed resource cannot be wasted. Thus the government can
incorporate this theory in their future planning so that every citizen of the future generation can
get a fairly equal share of the natural resources. David Hume stated that the present generation
is "placed in a kind of middle station between the past and the future" and "imagine our ancestors
to be, in a manner, mounted above us, and our posterity to lie below us" (p. 306; Baier, 1981).
That is if we take it from the governmental responsibility, the present government has to keep the
current sustainability and upgrade the present situation before they dispatch the power to the
future generation.
The aforementioned political theories are strongly associated with government’s responsibility to
future generations as it relates to the present environmental policy in the United States. The
present environment policy of USA is based on achieving a sustainable and better future
environmental condition which will incorporate economic, political, social development. So the
theories clearly stated the sustainable development and passing it to the future, government is
also working in that way.
Reference:
1. Coj.net,. (2014). Retrieved 12 November 2014, from http://www.coj.net/departments/ethicsoffice/docs/module-1-civics-ed-2-23-10.aspx
2. P. Hiskes, R. (2006). Environmental Human Rights and Intergenerational Justice. Human Rights
Review, April-June 2006(1). Retrieved
from https://sustainability.water.ca.gov/documents/18/3407876/Environmental+Human+Rights+
and+intergenerational+justice.pdf
3. Levy, J.M. (2013). Contemporary urban planning(10th ed.). Upper Saddler River, NJ: PearsonPrentice Hall Press.
ANSWER 2
The Athenian citizens’ oath looks to the well-being of future generations when it states “we will
transmit this city not only not less, but greater, better, and more beautiful than it as transmitted to
us,” (Frederickson, 1994). This portion of the oath lets the outsider know that the Athenians were
aware that they needed to preserve what they already had and make it better for their children.
This portion of the oath is similar to what parents wish for their children, that they always have a
better life then the parent. This desire to make things better is similar to environmental planning
in that it is striving to make life better for future generations. If this generation works harder and
plans better, then the next generation can lead better lives in a better world.
Burke, Locke and Hume all have views on intergenerational governmental responsibility that,
while not exactly the same, all look at the responsibility of today’s generation to the generations
of the future. “Burke accounts for a cross-generational community bound together by morale
contracts,” (Frederickson, 1994). This morale contract would mean that the present generation
should be bound by an internal force, morality, to be responsibly for the environment that the
future generations will inherit. Locke “describes a state of nature in which we are morale equals,
equally entitled to use the earth and its resources,” (Frederickson, 1994). In this view point, the
current generation is still bound by an internal force of morality. Locke flushes out Burke’s
“moral contract” stating that it entitles everyone, present and future, to the same rights on this
earth. If the present generation is able to live upon the earth in a particular manner then future
generations have that same right. When Hume talks about the “kind of middle station betwixt the
past and the future,” (Frederickson, 1994) he is also talking about a similar notion as Burke and
Locke. The past generations were to preserve the environment for the present in the same way
that the present is to preserve it for the future. All three theories look at the past and the present
as building blocks for the future.
Today in the U.S., as well as other countries across the globe, the governments are responsible
for ensuring that the present generation preserves the environment for future generations. In
looking at the Athenians view of making their city into a better place then that which they were
given from the past shows a desire to become better than their predecessors. Burke, Locke, and
Hume all express similar views. All of these views show the U.S. that it is not a new concept to
preserve and enhance the environment for the future. The governments in the U.S., from federal
to local, can all look to these theories as examples for why we need to be mindful of the
environment when we plan urban areas, when we plan redevelopment of urban areas, and when
we look to what nature resources we are going to use or destroy in the development of these
areas.
Resource
Frederickson, H. G. (1994). Can Public Officials Correctly Be Said to Have Obligations to
Future Generations? Public Administration Review, September/October 1994, Vol. 54, No. 5.