WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In politics, Locke is best known as a proponent of limited government. He uses a theory of natural rights to argue that governments have obligations to their citizens, have only limited powers over their citizens, and can ultimately be overthrown by citizens under certain circumstances.

Detailed explanation-2: -For Locke, the government must be a “neutral judge” of law with no right to interfere in the lives of the individual. The most radical idea to come from Locke’s pen was the idea of governmental legitimacy. Locke believed that a government should be beholden to the people rather than vice-versa.

Detailed explanation-3: -Enlightenment philosophers John Locke, Charles Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau all developed theories of government in which some or even all the people would govern. These thinkers had a profound effect on the American and French revolutions and the democratic governments that they produced.

Detailed explanation-4: -Separation of Powers and the Dissolution of Government Locke describes the legislative power as supreme (Two Treatises 2.149) in having ultimate authority over “how the force for the commonwealth shall be employed” (2.143).