We seem to have come now to the discussion of political machinery, but,
as in our discussion of the League of Nations, we can see that our
attitude to such questions of machinery will vary as we regard the
force-bearing organization with its national and territorial basis as
the primary fact in the community, to be distinguished sharply from all
other organizations, or regard the possession of organized force as the
expression of men's settled and permanent will to maintain their common
interests and safeguard the conditions of the good life. If we
consistently follow out Green's dictum that will, not force, is the
basis of the state, we shall be anxious that the political organization
to which we render obedience shall follow the actual ramifications of
common interests and of men's willingness to co-operate, and shall
recognize that the national state with its territorial basis represents
only one form of such ramification.
The view that political action is not confined to constitutional and
governmental channels will not imply that we must give up the
distinction between society and the state. For, on the one hand, trade
unions have only arisen because of the special need for a _common_
safeguarding of common interests produced by economic relations.
Economic relations need to be controlled by, but cannot be superseded
by, politics. On the other hand, as we have seen, the work of such
associations as churches is different in kind from the work done by
political organizations. The inculcation and development of moral ideals
and the safeguarding of the conditions of the good life are
complementary functions. Each is impossible without the other. But that
does not make them identical, however closely interfused they may be.
If, then, we accept the political theory of idealism as a theory of
society, we must recognize in social life the distinction between
ethical, economic, and political relations, and the task before
Political Theory is to define the relations between politics and
economic activities on the one side and ethical activities on the other,
and that in a society which is not confined within the bounds of a
single nation state. The intricate ramifications of vast economic
undertakings and the common aspirations and ideals of humanity are but
signs of a solidarity of mankind that political philosophy must
recognize in all the problems it has to face.
FOR REFERENCE
Green, _Principles of Political Obligation_.
Bosanquet, _Philosophical Theory of the State_.
Barker, _Political Thought in England from Spencer to to-day_.
Hobhouse, _The Metaphysical Theory of the State_.
Figgis, _Churches in the Modern State_.
Cole, _Labour in the Commonwealth_.
Cole, _Self Government in Industry_.
Delisle Burns, _The Morality of Nations_.
VII
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT[20]
C.R. FAY
I. THE INDUSTRIAL SCENE, 1842
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account