Pregledni rad
POLITICAL OBLIGATION OF CITIZENS IN DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL EDUCATION
Vladimir Vujčić
; Fakultet političkih znanosti Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The author gives a brief review of the theory of political obligation of citizens in democracy. If democracy is a regime based on the free will of individuals (citizens), then the concept of political obligation cannot be based outside this and such freedom. Unlike rights, obligations are always social (relational, reciprocal). Because their nature is social, they have to be socialized by the processes of education: this is the process of building a political habitus in the individual identity of every person. The political responsibilities, unlike the legal ones, cannot be adopted by chance (by the processes of functional socialization), but solely by means of citizens’ systematic education, as they are grounded in the freedom of choice and the nurtured civic virtues. As such, they a part of the consciously built democratic political culture of citizens, and culture must be acquired only by the processes of learning and education. A separate analysis of the relationship between the citizens’ political obligations and those of the political community has been carried out since the issue here is who citizens in democracy really are responsible to. Political responsibility is not due only to authority (state, sovereign) – as initially emphasized by the social contract theories – but also to the other fellow citizens, and to the political community as a historical repository of our obligations and responsibilities in their entirety. Finally, the problem of political obligations from the perspective of the logic of collective action is analyzed as well as the likelihood of the existence of ‘freeriders’ in the achieved structure of the common good. This analysis also shows how civic education is inherent to democratic regimes
Ključne riječi
political obligation; civil rights; citizens; democracy; political community; logic of collective action; political education
Hrčak ID:
20778
URI
Datum izdavanja:
18.12.2007.
Posjeta: 3.101 *