the ideas of Hobbes and Locke

Hobbes and Locke are considered famous political theorists. Hobbes argued that man is naturally a bad creature. Therefore, government, particularly monarchy, was necessary to restrain man’s bestial tendencies because life without government was the “state of nature.” He claimed that without written, enforceable rules people would live like animals – foraging for food, stealing, and killing when necessary. To escape the trauma of the natural state and to protect their lives, men must give up …

…break their social contract with the people and therefore no longer enjoy the consent of the governed. Since he believed that true justice comes from laws, Locke argued that the branch of government that makes laws – as opposed to the one that enforces or interprets laws – should be the most powerful. Having a chief executive to administer laws was important, but he should be limited by law or by the social contract with the governed.