Locke and the tension between government and civil society

Abstract

This article analyzes the relation between government and civil society in the political thought of John Locke, more precisely the tensions generated between these two levels with respect to collective life. The interest is to present the central argument of Locke about civil disobedience and the main reasons that make disobedience, derogatory language policy by submitting a certain degree of citizens, in the right of resistance, and has an unswerving rule assumption in the social contract. Therefore, our objective will be to demonstrate that a contract formed by free and autonomous individuals, whose entire political legitimacy is the collective force, is incompatible with arbitrary actions by the civil government.