Social Contract: Ramesh Shrestha

Social contract

Philosophers believe that man by nature is born good. We learn to live by unwritten rules that exist in all cultures which define our bond with each other and with nature. It is the moral optimal given to us by nature not by any supernatural entity or by any ruler. In short this is what we may call our social contract. It is the fundamentals of our relationships, responsibilities and obligations, irrespective of any form of governance under which we live in this universe.

What did we do with it?

In recent decades it seems like people everywhere appear to have forgotten this natural contract we have with each other and with nature. As we continue to ‘develop’ we seem to increasingly corrode the natural social contract we have between people and with nature. Man Made rules are essential for governance but it is destroying the social contract we have with each other, with nature and with our government. The strength of social contract between people and with nature is at a breaking point under the influence of business contracts people have with the government. The business contract people have with the government is not doing much good for the majority of the people.

It is not free

Our government is managed by the people elected by the citizens; hence the ‘conscience of the government’ which governs the citizens is expected to represent the collective conscience of the electorates. People pay taxes to the government. In return people expect protection from any harm and expect basic services from the government as part of the social contract. However, in recent decades monetisation of everything surrounding us appears to be devastating the ‘conscience of the government’ weakening the social contract people have with the government. There are basic necessities for survival of people, which are the building blocks of our individual existence, hence of society, such as air, water, education and health among others. Privatisation of basic services such as water, health and education may have weakened the very basic foundation of our society. Conscience is not a synthetic product that we can buy in the market. Conscience is deep within every human individual’s civic sense. What paralysed man's conscience? What polluted the ‘conscience of the government’?

Freedom gone wild

Citizens and the rulers have co-existed during peace times and during conflicts as we have seen during mighty empires, feudalism and during colonialism. At the end of colonialism countries adjusted to their traditional form of governance with a focus on development. In recent decades the idea of freedom, a treasured concept of the western democracies, made serious inroads into the hearts and minds of people everywhere. Freedom did not matter during hundreds of years of colonialism. Suddenly the idea of freedom of people in developing countries became the most essential issue for the western countries, completely disabling their traditional governance system. What changed?

Freedom as interpreted in the dictionaries is for people to do whatever they wish to do, “within reasons”. However, the exercise of freedom by few can destroy and have indeed destroyed the freedom and lives of many when people forget “within reasons”. It happens when powerful few influence the governance that distorts the meaning of social contact. The freedom of the powerful few with ‘immunity from obligations’ has given rise to a sense of individualism – me, myself and I, distorting a sense of community belonging, even distorting family relations taking the social contract to the brink.

It has also greatly weakened the governance, not because freedom is wicked but because the idea of freedom has penetrated deep into the heart of the private sector which has taken control of the governance. The freedom of the private sector has gone wild in causing deforestation everywhere, polluted air and water. Freedom of the private sector has converted basic social services into private businesses. It has even privatised water, a basic necessity for survival of people. If it is a question of cost recovery, provision of basic services should be at least based on non-profit basis but it is not. It has marginalised ordinary people in every possible way. Certain groups of people have converted the unwritten social contract with the government into an unwritten business contract, which has put the majority of people, especially in developing countries, at great disadvantage.

Breach of trust

The idea of social contract appears to be in collusion with economic liberalism. It is essential for countries to reform the market and integrate the economy with international finance but should not be at the cost of country’ citizens. It is especially harming the citizens in low-income countries. The current economic governance has distorted the balance of power between the government and the private sector weakening the government and its role as the bearer of rights of citizens.

Legitimacy of the leaders who run the government is based on the electors' confidence in who they elect. The elected officials commit various services and benefits to the citizens – a form of unwritten social contract. Many of these commitments remains a pie in the sky. What happened to the ‘conscience of the government’ which is supposed to protect the citizens who elect them for governance?

*****

Read more articles by Ramesh by clicking here

Contact Ramesh : ramesh.chauni@gmail.com