Liberalism and the obligation to military service

Political Studies

Volumn 46, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 68-81

  Carter, April ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0040679962     PISSN: 00323217     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1467-9248.00130     Document Type: Article

References (83)

1. I am indebted to those attending the Political Theory seminar at the 1994 Australasian Political Studies Association Conference in Wollongong for comments on an earlier paper, to a reader for Political Studies for helpful comments, and in particular to my colleague Geoff Stokes at the University of Queensland for comments on successive drafts
2. E. Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (London, Dent (Everyman's Library), 1910), p. 93.
3. R. Scruton, The Meaning of Conservatism (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1980), p. 34.
4. G. W. F. Hegel, Hegel's Philosophy of Right, transl, by T. M. Knox (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 209 (para. 324).
5. See also S. Avineri, Hegel's Theory of the Modern State (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1972), pp. 194-6.
6. See J. Stevenson, Popular Disturbances in England 1700-1832 (London, Longman, 1992) and J. R. Western, The English Militia in the Eighteenth Century (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1965).
7. See J. Stevenson, Popular Disturbances in England 1700-1832 (London, Longman, 1992) and J. R. Western, The English Militia in the Eighteenth Century (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1965).
8. Service in the militias was formalized in 1757 when recruits were drawn by lot, and the right to pay for a substitute was enshrined in the Act. The officers for the militias and army were normally recruited from the landed aristocracy or gentry.
9. See H. Spencer (E. Mack, ed.) The Man Versus the State (Indianapolis, Liberty Classics, 1981). See T. H. Green, 'Lectures on Social and Political Obligation', in Works of T. H. Green, Vol. 2 (London, Longmans, Green, 1906), ch. K. for a detailed exposition of Green's views.
10. See H. Spencer (E. Mack, ed.) The Man Versus the State (Indianapolis, Liberty Classics, 1981). See T. H. Green, 'Lectures on Social and Political Obligation', in Works of T. H. Green, Vol. 2 (London, Longmans, Green, 1906), ch. K. for a detailed exposition of Green's views.
11. I am ignoring here the debate about J. S. Mill's 'elitism'.
12. The reasons for this revival are discussed in W. Kymlicka and W. Normann, 'Return of citezen; a survey of recent work on citizenship theory', Ethics, 104, January (1994), 352-81.
13. See, for example, A. Oldfield, Citezenship and Community; Civic Republicanisn, and the Modern World (London, Routlege, 1990). There is also lively debate about the nature of the republican inheritance from traditional political thought in the United States. An interpretation of this republican tradition is to found in: J. G. A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1975); recent critical commentaries are J. Appleby, Liberalism and Republicanism in the Historical Imagination (Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1992) and I. Kramnick, Republicanism and Bourgeois Radicalism (Ithaca, Cornell University, 1990). Revived political questioning of monarchy has also prompted theoretical examination, especially in Australia. See Australian Journal of Political Science 28 (1993) Special issue 'Australian's Republican Question'.
14. See, for example, A. Oldfield, Citezenship and Community; Civic Republicanisn, and the Modern World (London, Routlege, 1990). There is also lively debate about the nature of the republican inheritance from traditional political thought in the United States. An interpretation of this republican tradition is to found in: J. G. A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1975); recent critical commentaries are J. Appleby, Liberalism and Republicanism in the Historical Imagination (Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1992) and I. Kramnick, Republicanism and Bourgeois Radicalism (Ithaca, Cornell University, 1990). Revived political questioning of monarchy has also prompted theoretical examination, especially in Australia. See Australian Journal of Political Science 28 (1993) Special issue 'Australian's Republican Question'.
15. See, for example, A. Oldfield, Citezenship and Community; Civic Republicanisn, and the Modern World (London, Routlege, 1990). There is also lively debate about the nature of the republican inheritance from traditional political thought in the United States. An interpretation of this republican tradition is to found in: J. G. A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1975); recent critical commentaries are J. Appleby, Liberalism and Republicanism in the Historical Imagination (Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1992) and I. Kramnick, Republicanism and Bourgeois Radicalism (Ithaca, Cornell University, 1990). Revived political questioning of monarchy has also prompted theoretical examination, especially in Australia. See Australian Journal of Political Science 28 (1993) Special issue 'Australian's Republican Question'.
16. See, for example, A. Oldfield, Citezenship and Community; Civic Republicanisn, and the Modern World (London, Routlege, 1990). There is also lively debate about the nature of the republican inheritance from traditional political thought in the United States. An interpretation of this republican tradition is to found in: J. G. A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1975); recent critical commentaries are J. Appleby, Liberalism and Republicanism in the Historical Imagination (Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1992) and I. Kramnick, Republicanism and Bourgeois Radicalism (Ithaca, Cornell University, 1990). Revived political questioning of monarchy has also prompted theoretical examination, especially in Australia. See Australian Journal of Political Science 28 (1993) Special issue 'Australian's Republican Question'.
17. See, for example, A. Oldfield, Citezenship and Community; Civic Republicanisn, and the Modern World (London, Routlege, 1990). There is also lively debate about the nature of the republican inheritance from traditional political thought in the United States. An interpretation of this republican tradition is to found in: J. G. A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1975); recent critical commentaries are J. Appleby, Liberalism and Republicanism in the Historical Imagination (Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1992) and I. Kramnick, Republicanism and Bourgeois Radicalism (Ithaca, Cornell University, 1990). Revived political questioning of monarchy has also prompted theoretical examination, especially in Australia. See Australian Journal of Political Science 28 (1993) Special issue 'Australian's Republican Question'.
18. Oldfield Citizenship and Community, p. 153, comments succinctly on key differences.
19. Benjamin Barber comments that in liberal democracy ' 'democratic values are prudential ... theory of citezenship, participation, public goods, or civic virtue can be expected to arise'. B. Barber, Strong Democracy - Participatory Politics for a New Age (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1984), p. 4.
20. R. Aron, 'Is multinational citizenship possible?'. Social Research, 41, 4, Winter (1974), p. 652.
21. Barber, Strong Democracy, pp. 298-303. Barber calls for universal citizen service (including women), which he suggests could allow a choice between civilian and military service - but military service might become compulsory in case of an officially declared war. Barber argues the republican case that volunteer or professional armies, which are essentially 'mercenary' armies, may be used to subvert the republic and are not compatible with democratic citizenship.
22. Canovan, Hannah Arendt: a Reinterpretation of her Political Thought (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 225.
23. L. Siedentop, 'Two Liberal Traditions', in A. Ryan, ed., The Idea of Freedom (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 153-74.
24. See, for example, S. Macedo, Liberal Virtues: Citizenship, Virtue and Community in Liberal Constitutionalism (Oxford, Clarendon, 1990); Critical Review, 8, 2, Spring (1994), issue on 'Communitarianism and Liberalism'; Critical Review, 8, 2, Spring (1995), section on 'Liberals as Communitarians'.
25. See, for example, S. Macedo, Liberal Virtues: Citizenship, Virtue and Community in Liberal Constitutionalism (Oxford, Clarendon, 1990); Critical Review, 8, 2, Spring (1994), issue on 'Communitarianism and Liberalism'; Critical Review, 8, 2, Spring (1995), section on 'Liberals as Communitarians'.
26. See, for example, S. Macedo, Liberal Virtues: Citizenship, Virtue and Community in Liberal Constitutionalism (Oxford, Clarendon, 1990); Critical Review, 8, 2, Spring (1994), issue on 'Communitarianism and Liberalism'; Critical Review, 8, 2, Spring (1995), section on 'Liberals as Communitarians'.
27. Arendt, On Revolution (Harmondsworth. Penguin, 1973), p. 176.
28. It is interesting that France, the continental European country which has been especially attached to the practice of universal conscription and has seen it as a requirement of (male) citizenship abandoned it in 1996. Other west European countries are also cutting back on conscription. The Times, 20 January (1996), p. 14;
29. 'Focus: Death of the Draft'. The Guardian, 2 March (1966), p. 14.
30. J. Locke (Peter Laslett, ed.) Two Treatises of Government (Second Treatise) (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, student edition, 1988), pp. 276-7 (para. 14) and p. 365 (paras 145-7).
31. R. Ashcraft, Revolutionary Politics and Locke's Two Treatises of Government (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1986) discusses at length, but see esp. p. 117.
32. J. Tully, An Approach to Political Philosophy: Locke in Context (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 55. Ashcraft ascribes to Shaftesbury or someone close to him (p. 117).
33. R. W. Grant, John Locke's Liberalism (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1987), p. 131.
34. Grant, John Locke's Liberalism, footnote, p. 131.
35. Locke, Two Treatises of Government (Second Treatise), p. 362 (para. 139).
36. Locke, Two Treatises, p. 362.
37. Locke, Two Treatises, p. 362 (para. 140).
38. M. Walzer, Obligationa: Essays on Disobedience, War and Citezenship (Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1970), pp. 110-1.
39. J. G. A. Pocock, The Political Works of James Harrington (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1977), pp. 65-71.
40. The Marginal notes in the MSS of Betham's 'Plan for a Univerasal and Perpetual Peace' indicate that among the 'authors to be criticized' was Adam Ferguson's 'An essay on the history of civil society', which did advance this thesis. See S. Conway, 'Bentham versus Pitt: Jeremy Bentham and British foreign policy 1789', The Historical Journal, 30, 4 1987), p. 805.
41. J. Bentham, 'Plan for a Universal and Perpetual Peace', reprinted in M. C. Jacob, ed., Peace Projects of the Eighteenth Century (New York, Garland 1974)
42. James Mill, Commerce Defended (1808) cited by Howard, War and the Liberal Conscience, p. 37.
43. James Mill, Commerce Defended (1808) cited by Howard, War and the Liberal Conscience, p. 37.
44. Betham, rejecting Quaker pacifism, wrote that 'Defence is a fair ground for war... What a fine thing it would have beeb for Buonoparte to have had to do Quaker nations!' (Collected Works, 10, p.581) cited by F. Hinsley, Power and the Pursuit of peace (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1967), p. 81.
45. Betham, rejecting Quaker pacifism, wrote that 'Defence is a fair ground for war... What a fine thing it would have beeb for Buonoparte to have had to do Quaker nations!' (Collected Works, 10, p.581) cited by F. Hinsley, Power and the Pursuit of peace (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1967), p. 81.
46. J. Bentham (John Bowring, ed.) Collected Works (Edinburgh, William Tait, 1843), Vol. 8, p. 420.
47. Bentham, Collected Works. Vol. 9, p. 41.
48. Bentham, Collected Works, Vol. 9, pp. 345-7.
49. Bentham, Collected Works. Vol. 9, p. 357.
50. For an extended treatment see J. Robertson, The Scottish Enlightenment and the Militia Issue (Edinburgh, John Donald, 1985).
51. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross, eds. The Correspondence of Adam Smith (Oxford. Clarendon, 1977), p. 194; and D. Forbes, Hume'S Philosophical Politics (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1975), p. 172. Commentators do not wholly agree on the extent of Smith's and Humes enthusiasm for a standing army.
52. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross, eds. The Correspondence of Adam Smith (Oxford. Clarendon, 1977), p. 194; and D. Forbes, Hume'S Philosophical Politics (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1975), p. 172. Commentators do not wholly agree on the extent of Smith's and Humes enthusiasm for a standing army.
53. Quoted at some length in Hinsley, Power and the Pursuit of Peace, p. 89.
54. Bentham, Plan for a Universal and Perpetual Peace, p. 30.
55. J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy (London, 1848), p. 582 cited Howard, War and the Liberal Concience, p. 37.
56. J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy (London, 1848), p. 582 cited Howard, War and the Liberal Concience, p. 37.
57. D. Read, Cobden and Bright: a Victorian Partnership (London, Edward Arnold, 1967).
58. J. S. Mill, The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Vol. 28 (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1988), p. 222. 'England's Danger through the Suppression of Her Maritime Power' Speech to Parliament 5 August 1867.
59. J. S. Mill, Collected Works, Vol. 28, p. 221.
60. J. S. Mill, Collected Works, vol. 21, p. 123.
61. Howard, War and the Liberal Conscience, p. 42.
62. J. S. Mill, Collected Works, Vol. 16, pp. 124-5 and vol. 17, p. 1702. See also letter to T. E. Cliffe Leslie, Vol. 17, pp. 1805-6.
63. J. S. Mill, Collected Works, Vol. 16, pp. 124-5 and vol. 17, p. 1702. See also letter to T. E. Cliffe Leslie, Vol. 17, pp. 1805-6.
64. J. S. Mill, Collected Works, Vol. 16, pp. 124-5 and vol. 17, p. 1702. See also letter to T. E. Cliffe Leslie, Vol. 17, pp. 1805-6.
65. J. S. Mill, Collected Works, Vol. 29. 'The Army Bill', pp. 411-5.
66. J. S. Mill, Collected Works, Vol. 29. 'The Army Bill', pp. 411-5.
67. J. S. Mill (Max Lerner, ed.) The Essential Works of John Stuart Mill (New York, Bantam Books), p. 322.
68. W. Lovett, Life and Struggles of William Lovett (London, Macgibbon and Kee, 1967), pp. 53-4.
69. J. S. Mill, Collected Works, Vol. 13. Letters to J. F. Mollett, pp. 727, 728-9.
70. J. S. Mill, Collected Works, Vol. 13. Letters to J. F. Mollett, pp. 727, 728-9.
71. A. Gewirth, Human rights; Essays on Justification and Applications (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 355.
72. J. Gray, Liberalism (Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1986), p. 26.
73. F. A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960), p. 143.
74. T. H. Marshall, Citizenship, Social Class and other Essays (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1950).
75. J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 380.
76. Rawls has reformulated his justification for liberalism in Political Liberalism (New York, Columbia University Press, 1993), but since he does not mention the issue of military service at all in his later book, it is not directly relevant here.
77. R. Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously (London, Duckworth, 1977), 'Civil Disobedience', pp. 206-22.
78. R. Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously (London, Duckworth, 1977), 'Civil Disobedience', pp. 206-22.
79. Gewirth, Human Rights, pp. 251 and 253.
80. C. Pateman, 'Equality, Difference and Subordination: the Politics of motherhood and Women's citizenship', in G. Bock and S. James, Eds, Beyond Equality and Difference (London, Routledge, 1992), p.
81. citing B. Harrison, Separate Spheres: the Opposition to women's suffrage (London, Croom Helm, 1978), p. 73.
82. See thw debate surrounding the 1981 attempt by the US National Organization for women to challenge the constitutionality of an All-male Draft: J. B. Elshtain, Women and War (New York, Basic, 1987), p. 239.
83. I discuss this further in 'Women, Military Service and Citizenship', in B. Sullivan and G. Whitehouse, eds, Gender, Politics and citizenship in the 1990s (Kensington, NSW, University of New South Wales Press, 1996), pp. 100-19.