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GOVERNMENT IS A NECESSARY EVIL. DISCUSS?

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary” 1

In the paper Federalist no. 51 ​James Madison gave an insight on why government is
necessary and why there should be checks and balances but the concept of government dates
back to the 18th century when separation of church from state and state from society thrived.
Before any organized system to govern the state, a state of nature existed where people were
the sole decision makers, judges of their own deeds and executioners as well.
The concept of ​“Rational Actor Model”2 ​prevail in lawless societies adopting the utilitarian
belief it states “man is a selfish being who weigh the cost and benefit to make a rational
choice for his own benefit”. In a society where every individual works for his self interest,
antagonism escalates and resultantly socioeconomic rights will be infringed.
Therefore, to protect the people from unjust behaviour and to promote peace and fairness a
government is necessary but what if the government in itself is a necessary evil disguised as a
blessing? Once a government is formed, the main challenge is the​ monopoly over violence.
Some of the most ingenious works are mentioned below to contemplate if government is a
necessary evil.

In the early 1600s, European philosophers began debating the question who should govern a
nation. In 1649, civil war broke out over who would rule England the Crown or the
parliament? The war ended with the beheading of the king shortly after that ​Thomas Hobbes​,
an English philosopher wrote “​Leviathan”3 a defense of the absolute power of the kings.
Hobbes linked the Leviathan to government, a powerful state created to impose order. He
bagan Leviathan by describing the “state of nature” where all individuals were naturally equal
and were free to do what she or he had to do for survival. As a result everyone suffered from
“continued fear and danger of violent death; and the life of a man was solitary, poor, nasty,
brutish and short”
Hobbes borrowed the concept of implied agreement from English contract law and deduced

1
​Federalist No. 51 James Madison
2
​Cornish, D.B. & Clarke, R.V.. (2006). The rational choice perspective. The Essential Criminology Reader.
18-29.
3
https://www.ttu.ee/public/m/mart-murdvee/EconPsy/6/Hobbes_Thomas_1660_The_Leviathan.pdf
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the concept of “social contract” where the people agreed among themselves to lay down their
natural rights of freedom and equality and rests supreme powers to the sovereign. Hobbes
argued that government ruled by the king is the best kind of government he also maintained
that social contract is between the people and the people had no right to revolt against him.
Hobbes warned against the interference of church in King’s government that can be a cause
of a civil war. 4

In 1690, ​John Locke published “Two Treatises of Government” he generally agreed with the
barbarity of state of nature which required a social contract to promote peace. But he
disagreed with two of the major points of Hobbes

1. The natural rights of a person are innate and no authority can take away those rights or a
person can not voluntarily give up those rights Moreover, a social contract is between the
people and sovereign to protect their rights if he fails to do so people can revolt against him.
Thomas Jefforson used Locke’s Two Treatises on Government in the Declaration of
Independence.5

2. Locke was a proponent of freedom of thought, speech and religion and stated the most
important right of an individual is the right of property and government should promote
“Public good”. He favoured the representative form of government rather than a monarchy
and said supreme authority should reside in the legislature.6 The creation of executive and
judiciary should be done under the authority of legislature.

Jean Jacques Rousseau was of the view that man was naturally good and was corrupted by
the society. According to Rousseau the powerful and rich exploited the poor and manipulated
them into obeying the rich ones as their rulers. He concluded that social contract is not a
mutual agreement as said by Hobbes and Locke but is a fraud against people committed by
the rich. In 1726 he published his most important work ​“The social contract” ​the opening
lines are still striking, “man is born free and everywhere he is in chains” he was a supporter

4
​https://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/simpsonl/hist162/Hobbes.pdf
5
https://medium.com/patrickdaniel/what-is-john-locke-s-theory-of-natural-rights-and-justification-for-a-limited-
government-80feecdaaa27
6
Supra note.5
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of Locke’s theory that natural rights can not be alienated.

Rousseau used the term ​“sovereign” talking about people which was used for the king by
Hobbes. He believed in the direct democracy and said people will exercise their “general
will” to make laws for “public good”. Whoever disobeys the law “will be forced to be free”
Rousseau believed religion divides the society he believed in a “civil religion” that accepted
God but sacredness was concentrated in the social contract7.

Concluding, I would like to say for any society to be a civil society government is the
essential requisite but every man is born with a few natural rights, no authority should be able
to take away those rights and no government should demand it’s subjects to give up their
natural rights. If a government does not protect the rights of individuals and exploit the
weaker ones without any shadow of the doubt the government is a necessary evil but on the
other hand if the government is protecting the people with the method of “carrot and stick”
because people respond to incentives to ensure peace and justice it might not be a necessary
evil. Hence, government if controlled and limited can be a blessing if the government is given
supreme power it will be “evil in disguise”. To end I would like to quote ​Thomas Paine,​

“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state,
an intolerable one​”

7
​Jean Jacques Rousseau-Model of Government by Nitish Yadav