Major events such as the birth of the Christian Church, the Reformation, and the American Revolution as well as critical intellectual developments including the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment have all played roles in transforming political thought. These events and developments illuminated, as one side of the coin, the power of the government to coerce and, as the other side of the coin, the notion of political legitimacy and the obligation of the governed to obey. The rationale for that legitimacy and obedience became the subject of much thought and discussion among political and religious leaders and philosophers.
The topic readings offer rationales for political legitimacy and obedience to government from St. Paul and Thomas Jefferson. Your textbook references Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke who also contributed to the discussion of the rationale for obedience to government. In “Political Legitimacy and Democracy,” Buchanan made a modern argument for the source of political legitimacy and the rationale for obedience.
Complete a matrix that compares the views of these thinkers regarding the source of political legitimacy and the rationale for obedience to government. The matrix has cells for you to provide the following for each of these 4 thinkers:
- Major event or period of thought
- Source of political legitimacy
- Rationale for obedience to government
Write a summary (750-1,000 words) that offers a viable comparison of your observations of the ideas of these thinkers regarding the source of political legitimacy and the rationale for obedience to government.
Here is the citation for the source I have attached below and I have attached the worksheet as well
Buchanan, A. (2002). Political Legitimacy and Democracy. Ethics, 112(4), 689. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1086/340313
