Promotion of Liberal values by states Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Promotion of Liberal values by states - Essay Example Further it also presents the idea that the spread of liberalism will not necessarily result in shape of complete peace and prosperity in the world. In order to understand the prescribed role of the liberal states by the Liberalism theory it is important to understand the theory. "Liberalism is an ideology, philosophy, and political tradition that holds liberty as the primary political value. Broadly speaking, liberalism seeks a society characterized by freedom of thought for individuals, limitations on power, especially of government and religion, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market economy that supports relatively free private enterprise, and a transparent system of government in which the rights of minorities are guaranteed. In modern society, liberals favor a liberal democracy with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law and an equal opportunity to succeed." (Wikipedia, 2006) The essential characteristic of the liberal theory of the state is the doctrine of jurisdiction. The liberalism theory emphasizes on the limited area of power and authority for the state. Liberalism provides specified boundaries to the state beyond which the state cannot trespass. The principle of the limited power of state is the characteristic, which signifies the theory of Liberalism from Socialism in which the power of state is unlimited and Anarchists, according to whom the state does not have any significance. According to the neo socialist theory the most important factor is the economic efficiency rather than that of individual liberty and limited government. In order to undertake a discussion of the extent to which the use of power in the spreading the Liberal values is justified we will analyze the principles of Liberalism. The first and the foremost important principle of liberal theory are that the state is not superior to all the institutions. In fact state is also a social institution as other social institutions. All the institutions related to the specified field have relatively more power concerning the field as compare to other institutions. State has its own limitations and boundaries. It has to act in those boundaries. (Cooray) War has remained an issue of concern for most of the countries and nations. The formation of the international institutions such as League of Nations and the UN is the part of efforts of the nations towards establishing peace in the world. But still the notion of war is present in shape of the process of fighting terrorism and intervention to establish democracies. In case of the attack of U.S and its allies at Iraq and the refusal of the United States to follow the suggestion of United Nations to resolve the matter through peaceful talks, denies the first role of the superiority of the institutions on the state. United States used her economic dominance and military superiority in the world to make all the countries, including its enemies and allies to support the decision of war against Iraq through using force. "The second principle of the liberal theory of the state is that the state ought to respect the fault principle." (Cooray) According to the fault principle the state cannot punish an individual or cause him any harm with