pol 510 milestone two

POL 510: The study and Practice of Political Science

Positive Liberty: An intriguing debate

A general hypothesis to understanding Liberty and Freedom

Phillip Mitchell

3/15/2015

In the second part of the research question I try to understand the relationship between liberty and freedom by using different variables and indicators to determine how each relates to one another. In addition, in using these different variables I conclude that liberty and freedom are related and help foster a political systems existence to function. In sum, positive liberty and economic freedom can help foster political systems that are more diverse and economically successful to societal problems versus those that cannot.

2 Positive Liberty: An Intriguing Debate and general hypothesis to understanding Liberty and Freedom

Throughout the field of political science, there is a constant debate to determine how the

concept liberty and freedom should be defined and approached in providing the proper balance

between the two concepts to help shape a more economically opportunistic society. In

approaching this balance we need to examine what constitutes as liberty and freedom. In

addition, in developing my preliminary hypothesis, the dependent variable examined was liberty

while the independent variable examined was freedom. In identifying my dependent and

independent variables to conduct my preliminary hypothesis, or pretest to determine if this idea

could work; other indicators and elements where looked at to help me answer my educated guess

to provide a general conclusion.

When examining my dependent and independent variables such as what governs liberty

and freedom; how are liberty and freedom applied throughout a political system, what elements

are needed to help us understand liberty and freedom, or what other variables are needed to help

construct the proper balance to achieve a more economically opportunistic society. Before

examining what governs liberty and freedom or what constitutes the idea of liberty and freedom

we have to look at how both concepts are defined in terms of political science. Liberty is a term

in political science that is classified as both negative and positive because it focuses on the idea

of protection in the sense that a political system should grant its citizens rights or certain

practiced behaviors to maintain civil order or functioning activities within a political system

(Spicker, Paul, 2006, pp. 5-42). In addition, the concept of positive liberty can be classified as a

form of security where the State provides attributes or human subjects to protect its citizens from

factions, tribal groups, lone-wolfs; or bad actors, as well as other societal combatants who try

and destroy the idea of functionality in a political system (Butler, Nicholas M., 1917, pp. 647-

648).


Now that the term liberty is defined, we examine how freedom should be defined.

Freedom in this case can be identified as the concept of free choice or free will in a given society

to allow citizens the opportunity to perform rational or irrational acts in a political system to

foster a desired outcome or phenomena. In identifying freedom as the independent variable for

my preliminary hypothesis it was noted that people or human subjects and rational choice theory

or logical reasoning helps support my dependent variable of the concept of “pure liberty” in the

sense that the idea of freedom dictates how liberty should be practiced within a political system.

Political systems have a multitude of variables to help analyze how liberty is defined throughout

the masses; some are identified in the three paragraphs which include terms such as functionality

of government, political institutions, political effectiveness (governing), democracy, open and

closed society, regime, State, and civic engagement and economic opportunity.

Political Systems are composed of variables that measure empirical data (numbers) to add

more meaning to various fields of study and disciplines. Variables can be tested by using

definitions to understand each variables impact throughout a political system. Definitions such as

economic opportunity or means used to create wealth opportunities throughout a society can lead

to other attributes such as civic engagement, voting, freedom of expression, political

participation are all used to help orchestrate how liberty is practiced within political systems.

Attributes such as negative and positive liberty are tools to measure how free or open a society

should be by helping people function in a political system by giving guaranteed rights and

protections under a Constitution or political document to perform everyday functions.

Every political system must be able to function. Functionality of government is critical

because it measures the idea of societal development while using government services to impact

people’s lives in positive ways. Regimes or fundamental rules and norms of politics help


determine long-term goals regarding freedom and collective equality to answer questions as to

where and how power should reside and how to use that power (O’Neil, 2010, p. 324). A State

can be identified as an organization that maintains a monopoly or force of given territory, or a set

of political institutions that generate and execute policy regarding freedom and equality (O’Neil,

2010, p.325).

In addition, terms such as political institutions are instruments used to conduct legislative,

executive and judicial decisions by each State; political effectiveness helps a State govern;

democracy is a direct or indirect form of political power used by a State to measure power

(O’Neil, 2010, p. 319 & 325). Indirect democracy illustrates the representatives (elected official)

of the people are responsible for government policy and decision making (O’Neil, 2010, p. 321),

while direct democracy allows the public to participate directly in government decision making

to test the autonomy of citizenry in a given political system (O’Neil, 2010, p. 319). Political

systems have electoral processes and systems which are classified as either open or closed. Open

primaries is an electoral mechanism to identify who can or cannot vote in a given party election,

while a closed primary is an electoral mechanism that determines who cannot vote in a given

party election.

Each definition defined has helped develop my preliminary hypothesis to further assist

me in answering my research question to understand if positive liberty can create more economic

opportunity and freedom in a political system to create better conditions for the citizenry. In sum,

effective government policy can foster more freedom and economic development or opportunity

within a political system to create economic benefits or acts of means to help State’s pay for

services while allowing the citizenry to help determine it destiny.


In conclusion, self-determination (the idea of people to choose their own future) or

societal development in this case and the idea of functionality are both interconnected and create

the proper balance for States to engage in activities that foster enhanced economic opportunities

that benefit State boundary identities and help bolster local citizenry involvement. In addition,

positive liberty and economic opportunities are underlying characteristics in democracies that

help a State function and develop a social construct or sets of living standards or norms that

create a better quality of life situation for citizens to perform behaviors and activities that make

the political system function well. In essence, positive liberty helps set a culture or sets of basic

institutions which help define a society, while measuring its capacity or ability to wield its power

to carry out basic tasks, such as defending territory, making and enforcing rules, collecting taxes,

and managing the economy to help develop equitable living standards for its citizens (O’Neil,

2010, p. 318 & 319).

In essence, each control variable selected belongs in the model because they help illustrate how

positive liberty should be practiced in theory and applied to a political system to make it

functional and create opportunity for local citizenry to contribute in positive ways to society. In

addition, using the controlled variables listed throughout the preliminary hypothesis I plan to use

a scale of one (1) to eight (8) measuring each control variable: which will represent Poor, Very

Poor, Inefficient, Efficient, Neutral, Good, Very Good, and Excellent. In addition, each

measurement will be identified by assigning an overall score for each category to measure each

control variable to help determine how well a political system performs each of the tasks as it

relates to illustrating positive liberty. For example, the categories of poor, very poor, and

inefficient will have a measurement of forty-three (43) points consisting of eight (8) questions

worth five (5) points for each answer, while categories such as neutral, efficient, good, very


good, and excellent have a total measurement of fifty three (53) points consisting ten questions

worth ten (10) points.

In addition, in determining the validity and reliability of each controlled variable will rely

upon the responses given or interpreted from questions answered and three (3) additional follow-

up questions which will be worth five (5) points individually which total fifteen points will help

measure how successful positive liberty can be in a political system. In addition, the combined

point value for this initial test will be one hundred eleven (111) points to determine how each

State practices positive liberty. In addition, the following scale will apply: one hundred (100) to

one hundred eleven (111) will measure be classified as excellent; ninety (90) to ninety-five (95)

will be classified as very good; while ninety-four (94) to eighty-nine (89) will be classified as

good; while eighty-eight (88) to seventy-eight (78) will be classified as neutral. In essence, the

remaining scores which range from zero (0) to seventy-seven (77) will be classified as very poor

(65-76), poor (32-65), and inefficient (0-31) will help illustrate which countries illustrate and

practice positive liberty the least.


References:

Butler, Nicholas Murray. (1917). Order, Liberty, Progress: The Journal of Education, 86(24),

647-648. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42826460

Spicker, Paul. (2006). Liberty, equality, fraternity: Policy Press at the University of Bristol, pp.

5-42. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qgkg5

O'Neil, Patrick. (2010). Essentials of Comparative Politics. Third Edition, 318, 319, 321, 324,

325. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Johnston, Richard, et al. (1992). ICPSR 9386-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-univeristy Consortium

for Political and Social Research. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09386.v1

Bollen, Kenneth, A. (1998) Cross-National Indicators of Liberal Democracy, 1950-1990.

ICPSR02532-v2. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina. Inter-university Consortium for

Political adn Social Research. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02532.v2

http://www.jstor.org/stable/42826460

pol 510 milestone two

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