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Concept

Consent of the governed

Consent of the governed
The original uploader was Magnus Manske at English Wikipedia. Later versions were uploaded by Optimager at en.wikipedia. · Public domain · source

Overview

In political philosophy, consent of the governed is the idea that a government's legitimacy and moral right to use state power is justified and lawful only when consented to by the people or society over which that political power is exercised. This theory of consent is often contrasted with the divine right of kings and has often been invoked against the legitimacy of colonialism. Article 21 of the United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, "The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government."

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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  1. Lest those arguments should not appear entirely conclusive (as I think they are), I shall have recourse to authority, and shall prove, from the universal consent of mankind, that the obligation of submission to government is not derived from any promise of the subjects. Nor need any one wonder, that though I have all along endeavoured to establish my system on pure reason, and have scarce ever cited the judgment…

    David Hume, Philosophical Works, v. 2

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  2. A body politic of this kind is called a Democracy, which may be defined as a society which wields all its power as a whole. The sovereign power is not restrained by any laws, but every one is bound to obey it in all things; such is the state of things implied when men either tacitly or expressly handed over to it all their power of…

    Benedictus de Spinoza, The Philosophy of Spinoza

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  3. But the people must not pretend, because they can, by their consent, lay the foundations of government, that therefore they are to be permitted, at their pleasure, to overthrow and subvert them. There is no end of these seditious and arrogant claims.

    David Hume, Hume's Political Discourses

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Philosophers who discussed Consent of the governed

Related ideas

Place in the tradition

Part of American philosophy.

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