Abstract
This paper is a critical reading of Locke’s Second Treatise of Government to
determine if and whether democracies of his kind can solve poverty and welfare issues
in developing countries of the Global South. Our hypothesis is that if Locke’s theory
was born at a specific moment in Western history with its underlying religious,
metaphysical and ethical doctrines, then one may be hard-pressed to show that an
exact carbon copy of his theory of democracy is transferrable to other cultural, social,
economic and political contexts of developing countries in today’s Global South.
Beneath his theory of human nature and mind (Essay Concerning Human Understanding),
the state of nature, the idea of the social contract, the theory of property and
ownership, and the defense of market society capitalism are critical assumptions that
support a Lockean idea of democratic government originating from the consent of
the people, the notion of sovereignty and inalienable rights of the people to revolt,
and the functions of government to promote the common good precisely through the
maximization of human liberties, freedoms and pursuits while mitigating the
possibility of harm to others’ life, liberty and property. We will explore philosophical
dimensions of the Second Treatiseon issues of rationality and consent while testing them
against the background of current realities in developing countries.