Chapter 1 PoliticalObligation |15

Such as collection of taxes. Obviously the taxes are sources of income

of the state which are required to spend for the welfare of the people.
This theory has been condemned as materialistic and it lacks idealism.

Limits of Political Obligation and the Problem of

Resistance
Generally people obey the state authority in order to live peacefully
and securely in their states. It is also a fact that people sometimes
challenge the authority of the state, disobey the state -made laws. There
are many instances of resistance, disobedience & revolt in history.

So different questions arise regarding limits of political obligation and

question of resistance. Should people have the right to resist the state?
As the sovereign authority of society, the state claims the allegiance of
the citizens to its laws.Is there any limits to this claim of obedience?
Should people have the right to disobey the laws which they regard
unjust and harmful to their interests?

Different political thinkers have therefore attempted to give answers

to these questions. Political philosophers like Hobbes, Locke, Green and
Laski proposed their theories of resistance.
Hobbes says that the people who wanted to escape from disorder
and anarchy in the primitive time made a social contract accordingly to
which they committed themselves to obey the laws of an absolute king,
who was the product of the contract. But Hobbes says that people have
a right to break the contract if the sovereign or king commands the
people "to kill or wound themselves or not to resist those who assault
them or to abstain from the use of food, air, medicine or any other thing,
without which they cannot live".
Locke says that for want of broad-based law recognized by all, an
impartial arbiter and an authority to see the laws properly executed
people made contract and state was formed. He says that
according to the contract, while the people agreed to obey the
of the government the ruler too had to govern properly. His duty is to
sure the people's security and prosperity. If he fails in his duty people