Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

206 W. J. M. Mackenzie
to generate a usable taxonomy of research in progress. I find that this gives
more coherence than any other schema, and I think that there are historical
reasons for this, embodied in the ‘ecology of political science’ (Section nr). It is
probable that the notion of ‘constitutionalism’ could be investigated empirically
as well as philosophically, indeed, efforts have been made to identify the ‘constitutional
instincts’ of factory workers in relation to factory government.55 But
one cannot proceed further without tackling directly the normative, philosophical,
indeed metaphysical, side of political science.
A very simple formulation may be sufficient for the present purpose:56
I. Government is necessary.
2. But a citizen in a constitutional State has rights against his government as
well as duties towards it.
3. These rights can be set out in three categories; but these interact, and there
are differences of opinion about nomenclature.
a. Active rights; the right (perhaps the duty) to participate in some way in
decision-making about laws and policies.
b. Personal rights, sub-divided into:
i) These necessary for the operation of active rights; e.g., freedom of speech
and of the press.
ii) These necessary to personal dignity and mutual respect; e.g., freedom
from encroachment on family rights and property except ‘by due process
of law’.
From this formulation can be generated the main heads of research referred
to in Section IV A.
I. Government is necessary.
a. Regimes and elites.
b. Governments.
2. But citizens have rights.
a. Active rights.
i) Voters and voting.
ii) Elected assemblies.
iii) Their political operation, and their economic and social setting.
b. Personal rights.
i) Political
(a) Organization and interest articulation; interest groups and their
operation.
(b) Communications and persuasion; both mass communications
through large organizations and personal networks.
ii) Private: important here not in detail but because the habit of respect
for law spills over from private to public business.
3. These rights are protected by law, and law depends on law-courts.
a. Constitutional cases.
b. Regular procedure in all cases. Both of these to be studied in their econornic
and social settings.