“Citizens have responsibilities as well as rights” Assess this view using examples

Written by Aaron Shutt (Sept 2007)

Introduction

In this essay I am going to assess the views that for people to have rights they need to have responsibilities, and so citizens have responsibilities as well as rights. I am going to do this by looking at what rights people have and the responsibilities that come with them and other responsibilities. I am going to argue that it is impossible for a person to have rights with out someone having a responsibility tied to that right.

Our Rights our Responsibilities

Our rights as citizens has evolved over thousands of years, in the times of Ancient Greece it was only the men who were involved in the political sphere of life were considered citizens. All others like women and slaves were not considered to be a citizen. We can see from an early time that for people to have rights they had to be in a position of responsibility, in this case they had the responsibility of running the country and being active political citizens and so gained the rights with it, like to vote and to stand for election. Whether through choice or because of their social standing no one else could have these responsibilities and so did not get the rights of a citizen. In Ancient Rome the aristocracy had the full rights of citizenship because they were given the responsibility to govern the Empire, but also those people in lands captured by the Romans were given citizenship because they paid taxes to the Roman Empire, this was their responsibility and because of this they gained the right of freedom and to trade within the Empire.

The British political scientist David Miller has laid down three models of a citizen. They are the: liberal, consumer and active models. The first two of these deals with the rights a citizen has. A liberal citizen has the right to vote and to be politically active. It is his right to protect his rights from those in power who the citizen believes may compromise their rights. This right allows everyone over the age of eighteen to vote for who ever they like on the ballot paper, this creates an equality as everyone has the same right no matter how important they are or how wealthy, the idea of ‘one man one vote’. However with this right we have the responsibility to vote sensible and not abuse this power we have been given in the same way it is a citizen’s responsibility to vote and not to become apathetic. It is also those in the liberal model a responsibility for those standing for election or in office to respect their position and act on behalf of those that have voted them into office. If they abuse this responsibility their right to be in office can be taken away by the public at the next election.

David Miller’s second model is the consumer model. We have a right to a certain level of customer service. Our right to good quality is paramount in this model and shows a certain level of selfishness by the citizen and is very true for many people in this day and age. Our rights as individuals are most important to many people, not thinking about others rights and beliefs. There is a lack of responsibility towards others in this model. It’s all about number one. On the flip side ones rights as a consumer is another’s responsibility to provide the consumer with the quality that is expected. Without this responsibility by the owners there are no rights for the consumers.

David Millers last model is the active community model which is based on the idea that individual people have the responsibility to do more than just what concerns them specifically and help the wider community; complete contrast to the consumer model. David Miller is saying that it is a citizen’s responsibility to help out in the wider community and be an active citizen. In taking on this public responsibility you have gained the right to say play in the local park or to use your public library. Being an active citizen can also mean taking the responsibility of picking up the litter of the ground, it is then your right to walk in a clean environment but also for other people to have the right to walk in a clean environment. Here there is a responsibility to the whole community but also to the environment. If this responsibility is abused by any person then the rights of everyone are compromised. This is not fair and so it is imperative for everyone to take up their responsibilities for the sake of everyone’s rights. On an international level it is everyone’s responsibility to preserve the environment and make the world we live in worth living in. If not then the rights of everyone could be pointless if the world becomes extinct, radical but possible. This active model put forward by Miller is about everyone has a responsibility to the community whether a local or global one, this gives everyone the same rights as everyone else in that community.

The sociologist T. H. Marshall who was writing straight after the Second World War said that the western world had been characterised by the successive achievements of a set of key citizen’s rights. They are peoples: civil, political and social rights. A persons civil rights include the right to free speech and to a fair trial. These rights are there to protect us from rogue events and people who want to abuse peoples rights and violate them. We have these rights because people have fought for them, the suffragettes and suffragists for women’s rights; and the likes of Martin Luther King Jr who stood up for black rights in America. They took the responsibility to collectively fight for the rights of the masses. It is everyone’s responsibility to uphold others rights so that we can all live in a civilised world and that we can all have our rights upheld if we take the responsibility to protect everyone’s rights.

Our political rights include the right to vote and to stand of election, just like in David Millers liberal model. Our rights have increased over the decades with more people being able to vote with the voting age dropping. But it is our responsibility as I said earlier to elect for those who will protect our rights and not for those who will abuse them. If someone is sanding for election then it is their responsibility to protect people’s rights. Without people taking political responsibility then we may not have the same extensive rights that we are used to.

Thirdly and lastly Marshall says we have social rights. He is talking about the right to an education and the emergence of the welfare state in the 1950’s amongst other things. We all have a right to a free education and to get free medical treatment, it is our responsibility to pay taxes so that we can have these rights, with out the money the state could not afford these services and our rights would be restricted, especially for those poorer in society.

Since T. H. Marshall we have gained more rights for women, different races and ethnicities, and also for the environment. Women have gained the same rights of men over the years with the Equal pay Act 1970 and the Sex discrimination Act 1975. With theses rights women have been given the same responsibilities as men. In is sad to say that other races and ethnic groups in the UK have taken the responsibilities with out argument but have never been given the rights they deserve until recently. They have taken their obligations up within society where others have not but have not been given the same rights. These human rights have been set down by the Human Rights Act 1998 which lays down a persons human rights which everyone in Europe has. It is the responsibility of everyone to make sure that everyone else can rely on their rights and for people not to abuse these rights. The Kyoto protocol and agreements have made everyone responsible for their environment as a whole and it is a right for all to have fresh air and to have clean water. These basic rights will be gone if we do not accept our responsibility to look after the environment.

The Labour Party in recent years has embarked on the idea of Communitarianism, which is the shared obligation and social responsibility of a community. It involves a community dolling out rights and what they think is best as a whole. In this idea everyone has a responsibility to each other so that all can have the same rights. It fits in with David Miller’s active citizen model. It is about people as a whole doing a bit more than they would normally for the benefit of a community. Communitarianism believes in a collective responsibility, without this people would not be able to use their rights as there is no uniformity.

I believe that we can not have rights with out responsibilities. We must work together to gain our rights, whether that be a family community or a neighbourhood community or even an international community. We do not necessarily have to earn our rights but we have to be prepared to work for them and to work to keep them. It is our responsibility to hold onto our rights and the rights of the generations to come.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that yes citizens do have responsibilities as well as rights. One can not work without the other and each must co-exist for them to be around for everyone to rely on and be part of.

Bibliography

AS Citizenship – Tim–Rowley and John Blewitt