Poli 64 Modern Political Thought

TURN YOUR PHONE OFF!November 8 1923 

Beer Hall Putsch beginsAdolf Hitler, president of the far-right Nazi Party, launches the Beer Hall Putsch, his first attempt at seizing control of the German government.After World War I, the victorious allies demanded billions of dollars in war reparations from Germany. Efforts by Germany's democratic government to comply hurt the country's economy and led to severe inflation. The German mark, which at the beginning of 1921 was valued at five marks per dollar, fell to a disastrous four billion marks per dollar in 1923. Meanwhile, the ranks of the nationalist Nazi Party swelled with resentful Germans who sympathized with the party's bitter hatred of the democratic government, leftist politics, and German Jews. In early November 1923, the government resumed war-reparation payments, and the Nazis decided to strike.

Utilitarianism (actually, “liberty”)Jeopardy!

Answer: The legitimate mode of governmentfor barbarians.

The question: What is DESPOTISM? (“provided the endbe their improvement”

The issue:How is this claim consistent with the defense of liberty?

Utilitarianism (the social theory of human felicity)

The purpose of social theory: What is useful for human happiness

The goal of society and government (the principle of utilitarianism): The Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number of Individuals

The first and fundamental question: What is happiness?

Definitional basis

Hedonismvs.Excellence

Conditions“Internal” (intellectual) “External” (material)

Low

High

High

High

Considerations:What is the relationship of internal and external conditions?What are the individual and social implications of these ideals of happiness?

Mill’s conclusion: Utility (the greatest happiness) requires progress, and progress requiresCompetence

On Liberty

Utility requires progress, and progress requires competence

Liberty is the means of self-development for happiness; liberty both protects anddevelops competence

Obstacles to competence

Internal External

Developing

Protecting

Ignorance Deprivation

Infirmity Tyranny

Historical limits of competence: Intellectual and material wealth

Greatest danger to competence and individuality in appropriate conditions: Tyranny of the MajorityThe principle of liberty: freedom in all “self-regarding acts”; social/governmental

regulation of “other-regarding acts” ONLY

Spheres of liberty:

Thought and expression (for truth)Tastes and pursuits (for individuality and diversity)

Association (institutional forms for thought, expression, tastes and pursuits)

Liberty protects competence by preventing majority tyranny; liberty developscompetence by encouraging individual self-development

Further considerations on development (or, why government should be limited):

Overactive government is inefficient and undermines self-reliance

Governments have limited capacity; individuals know their own interests

Paternalism stunts development; individual initiative encourages self-development

Monopolization stunts innovation; individual independence encourages creativity

Mill on Representative Government

Review: The prerequisites of progress

CapacityIntellectual Materialrequires

Development and Protectionrequires

Democracyrequires

Meritocracy

requires

Productive societiesrequires

Bureaucracy w/ expertise

REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT

Conditions of success:

Threats to success

NegativeUnderdevelopment Insufficient power

Positive Particularity Incompetence

Limitations:

Acceptance, action, and capacity

insubordination, passivity, localism

Remedies:Political participation and effective bureaucracy

Means: education by example, experience, and public schooling

Further considerations: enfranchisement and electoral influence