Political freedom

Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies. Political freedom was described as freedom from oppression or coercion, the absence of disabling conditions for an individual and the fulfillment of enabling conditions, or the absence of life conditions of compulsion, e.g. economic compulsion, in a society. Although political freedom is often interpreted negatively as the freedom from unreasonable external constraints on action, it can also refer to the positive exercise of rights, capacities and possibilities for action and the exercise of social or group rights. The concept can also include freedom from internal constraints on political action or speech (e.g. social conformity, consistency, or inauthentic behaviour). The concept of political freedom is closely connected with the concepts of civil liberties and human rights, which in democratic societies are usually afforded legal protection from the state.he use of 'liberty' to describe the physical 'ability to do what I want', the power to satisfy our wishes, or the extent of the choice of alternatives open to us has been deliberately fostered as part of the socialist argument he notion of collective power over circumstances has been substituted for that of individual liberty. Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies. Political freedom was described as freedom from oppression or coercion, the absence of disabling conditions for an individual and the fulfillment of enabling conditions, or the absence of life conditions of compulsion, e.g. economic compulsion, in a society. Although political freedom is often interpreted negatively as the freedom from unreasonable external constraints on action, it can also refer to the positive exercise of rights, capacities and possibilities for action and the exercise of social or group rights. The concept can also include freedom from internal constraints on political action or speech (e.g. social conformity, consistency, or inauthentic behaviour). The concept of political freedom is closely connected with the concepts of civil liberties and human rights, which in democratic societies are usually afforded legal protection from the state. Various groups along the political spectrum naturally differ on what they believe constitutes true political freedom. Left-wing political philosophy generally couples the notion of freedom with that of positive liberty, or the enabling of a group or individual to determine their own life or realize their own potential. In this sense, freedom may include freedom from poverty, starvation, treatable disease and oppression as well as freedom from force and coercion, from whomever they may issue. Classical liberal Friedrich Hayek criticized this as a misconception of freedom: Anarcho-socialists see negative and positive liberty as complementary concepts of freedom. Such a view of rights may require utilitarian trade-offs, such as sacrificing the right to the product of one's labor or freedom of association for less racial discrimination or more subsidies for housing. Social anarchists describe the negative liberty-centric view endorsed by capitalism as 'selfish freedom'. Anarcho-capitalists see negative rights as a consistent system. Ayn Rand described it as 'a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context'. To such libertarians, positive liberty is contradictory since so-called rights must be traded off against each other, debasing legitimate rights which by definition trump other moral considerations. Any alleged right which calls for an end result (e.g. housing, education, medical services and so on) produced by people is in effect a purported right to enslave others. Some notable philosophers, such as Alasdair MacIntyre, have theorized freedom in terms of our social interdependence with other people. In his book Capitalism and Freedom, American economist Milton Friedman argues that there are two types of freedom, namely political freedom and economic freedom. Friedman asserted that without economic freedom there cannot be political freedom. This idea was contested by Robin Hahnel in his article 'Why the Market Subverts Democracy'. Hahnel points out a set of issues with Friedman’s understanding of economic freedom, i.e. that there will in fact be infringements on the freedom of others whenever anyone exercises their own economic freedom and that such infringements can only be avoided if there is a precisely defined property rights system—which Friedman fails to provide or specify directly. According to political philosopher Nikolas Kompridis, the pursuit of freedom in the modern era can be broadly divided into two motivating ideals, namely freedom as autonomy or independence and freedom as the ability to cooperatively initiate a new beginning.