__NOTOC__
Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of
regulation without intervention from an external
authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of
institution, such as
family units,
social groups,
affinity groups,
legal bodies,
industry bodies
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association partic ...
,
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural ...
s, and
political entities of various degree. Self-governance is closely related to various philosophical and
socio-political concepts such as
autonomy,
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the s ...
,
self-control,
self-discipline, and
sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
.
In the context of
nation state
A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group.
A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may i ...
s, self-governance is called
national sovereignty which is an important concept in
international law. In the context of
administrative division
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
, a self-governing
territory is called an
autonomous region. Self-governance is also associated with political contexts in which a
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using ...
or
demographic becomes independent from
colonial rule,
absolute government,
absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constituti ...
or any government which they perceive does not adequately
represent them. It is therefore a fundamental tenet of many
democracies,
republics and
nationalist governments.
Mohandas Gandhi's term "
swaraj
Swarāj ( sa, स्वराज, translit=Svarāja '' sva-'' "self", '' raj'' "rule") can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule". It was first used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to attain self rule from the Mughal Empire and the Adil ...
" is a branch of this self-rule ideology.
Henry David Thoreau was a major proponent of self-rule in lieu of immoral governments.
Background
In
ancient Greek philosophy,
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institutio ...
posits the concept of as the ability to be one's own master; he states that individuals or groups cannot achieve freedom unless they govern their own pleasures and desires, and instead will be in a state of enslavement. Accordingly, this principle is not only a fundamental moral freedom but also as a necessary condition of
political freedom and by extension the freedom and autonomy of any
political structure.
John Locke furthers this principle in that genuine freedom requires cognitive self-discipline and self-government, and that man's capacity for this is the source of all freedom. In this sense, freedom is not a possession but an action. Locke proposes that
rationality is the key to true
agency and autonomy, and that political governance is enabled by the governing of one's own
judgement. His political philosophy was a prominent influence on
Immanuel Kant, and was later taken up in part by the
Founding Fathers of the United States.
The nature of self-governance, that freedom relies upon self-regulation, has further been explored by contemporary academics
Gilles Deleuze,
Michel Foucault,
Judith Butler,
William E. Connolly, and others.
Means of self-governance
The means of self-governance usually comprises some or all of the following:
* A
code of conduct
A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party or an organization.
Companies' codes of conduct
A company code of conduct is a set of rules which is commonly writt ...
that outlines acceptable behavior within the unit or group. This may include a
legal or
ethical code (e.g. the
Hippocratic Oath of
doctors, or established codes of
professional ethics).
* A means of ensuring external authority does not become involved unless and until certain criteria are satisfied.
* A means of facilitating the intended functions of the unit or group.
* A means of registering and resolving
grievances (e.g.
medical malpractice, union procedures, and for achieving closure regarding them).
* A means of
disciplinary procedure within the unit or group, ranging from
fines and
censure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a Debate (parliamentary procedure), debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a ster ...
up to and including penalty of death.
* A means of suppressing parties, factions, tendencies, or other sub-groups that seek to
secede from the unit or group.
See also
*
Anarchism
*
Autonomy
*
Consent of the governed
In political philosophy, the phrase consent of the governed refers to the idea that a government's legitimacy and moral right to use state power is justified and lawful only when consented to by the people or society over which that politica ...
*
Secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics l ...
*
Self-determination
The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...
*
Self-governing colony
*
Self-management
*
Self-ownership
Self-ownership, also known as sovereignty of the individual or individual sovereignty, is the concept of property in one's own person, expressed as the moral or natural right of a person to have bodily integrity and be the exclusive controller ...
*
Sociocracy
*
Swaraj
Swarāj ( sa, स्वराज, translit=Svarāja '' sva-'' "self", '' raj'' "rule") can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule". It was first used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to attain self rule from the Mughal Empire and the Adil ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Self-governance
Forms of local government
Autonomy
Sovereignty