"The representative government of John Stuart Mill, as an ideal government"
For my research work I would like to analyze the representative government of the British author John Stuart Mill, based on the book considerations on the representative government;Is the representative government really the ideal government? My intention is to argue that no. I will analyze, mainly, two of the foundations on which the representative government of John Stuart Mill is based, the way in which he believes that citizens must be educated so that there is adequate public participation and progress takes place;And the way in which utilitarianism stains all this education, and, therefore, the government system.
The structure of the work will be organized in this way, an introduction and development divided into two parts, analysis of the ideas that Mill proposed to carry out this government, the extension of suffrage and the importance of education;and a second division based on utilitarianism and its demand for citizenship;and a series of conclusions that are subtracted from development. I consider that as Mill does not seem like the ideal government, since it is not a government suitable for all societies. It is only an ideal type of government for society that he imagines possible. It is not an universal ideal government, it is not worth all peoples. Asks citizens with an unwavering intellectual and moral excellence, this seems utopian.
Mill understands the forms of government as another human resource, which serves to achieve human objectives. The first elements of good government, for him, must be the virtue and intelligence of human beings that form society. In the type of government proposed by this author, the power falls on the people, citizens choose their representatives through suffrage. The despotic government rejects because it generates passivity, this is destructive to society;Good governance makes people get involved, deal with and worry about the common good. He believes that everyone must vote for their representatives, appeals for equality between individuals and supports the idea that everyone participates in political life. Try to extend universal suffrage, but the people need an educational system that enables it to be part of this participation, societies that do not have this education will be incapacitated, the despotic government will convey more, according to mill . At this point we can make great criticism of this ideal government, it is not a government suitable for all types of society, elitist criticism. Only those "superior" societies are prepared for the "ideal". It is not a system that adapts to different cultural systems, from this perspective it is not such an ideal government.
As a biographical note of Stuart Mill, this author was educated to be a great defender of utilitarianism, thanks to the fact that his father was also. Subjected to strict discipline, his own questions was asking himself. An independent thinker emerged who arouses great admiration for his elaborate principles .
Progress for Mill is the ultimate goal and the representative government promotes it at a social, spiritual and political level. If society does not have a certain argumentative level to participate in politics, it is vetoed, discriminated against. Only those found in the elite and have the possibility of studying can be governed by this government, a person who does not know how to write has no right to vote . African countries would never have a government that considers them all equal, there would never be a progress because it does not have access to education.
A despotic government does not always advance to society;It is not a universal law the following: If the degree of progress is lower, the representative government is less suitable for this society;We find societies with despotic governments that have not managed to progress, or Jewish societies that have advanced without this despotism . The problematic points that we can analyze in the ideal Government of Mill are explained in the following paragraphs. I will mainly analyze the idea of educating citizens and connection of this education with utilitarianism.
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