The Relation between Government and Citizens The new government of Afghanistan, which is emerged after Taliban were removed from power in 2001, is legitimized through a social contract between citizens and the rulers. Since social contract is a value in democracy, Afghanistan is known as a democrat country. Therefore, government of Afghanistan as well as citizens are responsible for the social contract that they have agreed on to strive for a better Afghanistan. Human beings naturally seek and think about their own selves' preservations and benefits.
As accessing to their interest is not possible without considering the public's interests and having order and security, people would follow convergence contracts. They would delegate the power to a group of people that they choose among themselves who can run the conducted laws and contracts and regulate and organize the behavior of the citizens. Additionally, Locke, Father of Classical Liberalism and an English philosopher and physician believes that in the absence of government there is no unprejudiced judge of dispute among various people. When violation and dispute occur there is no one to arrive to an unbiased resolution.
That's why to get rid of conflicts and disagreements we need government to control people. Other than Locke, Rousseau a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism of French expression also acknowledges that government can deprive people of conflicts. The two above evidence comply that for human beings to be saved from chaos and live in a secured state government is a necessity. Therefore, Afghans have legitimized the government of Afghanistan to provide them with a better secured life. Despite the different definitions of the term government that are presented in political science texts, government is an official organ that oversees and directs the social behavior of the citizens.
All the theories about "the government", such as Hobbes, Lock and Rousseau acknowledge the necessity of government. Only school of Anarchism disclaims the necessity of government. Anarchists believe that human based on morality can manage their social life and there is no need of government to rule them. They believe that people should be able to lead the society without existence of government. However, Anarchists' theory of state is unrealistic and inconsistent with the facts. Over centuries and thousand years experiences have shown that in any society people are not completely bound to the moral law and if a power or law does not curb or restrain them, they will cause chaos in social life. Therefore, existence of government is a necessity for every society. Now that government is a need, there will be need of authorities to issue orders and other common people to obey the orders and put them into action.
This assures that the authorities whom people have selected them through a contract or based on moral values are the "rulers" and people should also accept their orders. Hence, when the people legitimize and authorize a group of people firstly through social contract and secondly as a moral obligation, they should accept the authority of the legitimized group unless the group provides the public welfare. The first criteria for accepting government's authority and legitimacy is the agreement we make through a Social contract that in order to get rid of disorders and casualties in society we submit to an official organ, which directs the social behavior of the citizens and make the society free of disorders and chaos.
Related to this social agreement, Hobbes asserts that when men agree among themselves, to submit to some men voluntarily, on confidence to be protected by him against all others, they should accept the authority of those men. So the social agreement contract is considered as the legitimacy of government, meaning that the contract between citizens and the government under which citizens are bounded to follow the orders of the government, the government is committed to provide security and order, for the welfare of citizens.
However, the government of Afghanistan has not successfully fulfilled their responsibilities. Afghanistan is famous for its high rate of corruption among government workers. Corruption among politicians and public administrators on all levels has troubled the Afghan government achieving economic developments and has doubled the raise of economic challenges in the country. People are starving, while rich politicians are becoming wealthier. Aside from the enormous foreign aid that Afghanistan receives, the Afghan government still has very few resources at its disposal. There is no visible achievement in the reconstruction of infrastructures, development of agriculture, and building of other sectors.
The low level of economic development is because of the high rate of corruption exists in the country that has proven the foreign aids ineffective. That's why government of Afghanistan being corrupted has undermined the value of social contract. When we legitimize a group of people and give them the right of sovereignty, they have the right of leading and others as obedience have the duty of accepting their authorities. It is like when the father has the right to give order to his child, and then the child should obey him. Sovereignty and obedience are interrelated to each other and will be meaningless without each other. So firstly if we accepted that government should exist in a society and secondly government directs the social life of people, we should accept their orders and follow their command and decree. If in a society rule and order do not exist and work, there will be no need of government.
The same when there are laws and regulations, but the people do not follow them, then existence of government will be futile. So, consent of people for having government cause them to enter political commitment, then the government will have the right to commend and citizens the duty to obey the orders unless government's decree disregards the common will and welfare of the community, whereas, government of Afghanistan has failed to provide people with public welfare as it was expected. Secondly, accepting the authority of government unless it is against the will of people is a moral obligation and people should obey it. When we give the right of leading and directing the society to a group of people, in return morally we have to accept their authorities.
The right of government to lead the society is a moral right and the duty of the citizens to obey the government is a moral obligation. When the government implements the moral principle such as justice, ensuring security, and constituting laws for the betterment of the society we morally have the responsibility to obey their commends. Josephson, former lawyer, law professor and attorney who founded the nonprofit Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics located in Los Angeles, California, in his article "3 Sources of Moral Obligation" points out that "good citizens have a moral as well as a legal obligation to abide by laws; it is part of the assumed social contract of a civilized society".
The evidence indicates that obeying the laws made by the authorities is a moral obligation. So when government of Afghanistan could not fulfill their commitments that they mad, citizens will also eventually forget their moral obligations and instead of cooperation there will be separation between government and citizens, which leads to disorders and chaos in society. Finally, if the government disvalues the right of people and does not fulfill its commitments towards people, the citizens should disobey the government for justification.
Disobey in a manner not to perpetuate extreme chaos and disorders but to convince government listen to their voice. people can utilize the power of media, power of thoughts and words to defend from their wills and rights and encourage the government reasonably and logically to change their policies and commends rather than resorting to violence or submitting to unjust laws and policies. Overall, for having a peaceful life far from disarray existence of government is a necessity.
When people come to an agreement among themselves and through a social contract accept a group of people to take the governmental position and lead the social live of citizens to a direction, then people should accept the legitimized group's authorities, as it is a contract and moral obligation between people and government. But if the government disvalues the common ideals and wills of the people, the citizens should disobey the laws and influence inside the government for change and making difference without resorting to violence. If the current government of Afghanistan failed to value the importance of people's vote and social contract, hope goes from upcoming government of Afghanistan to lead the country towards development, peace, and prosperity.