Political Rights, noun plural


Here we depart from the use of our dictionary, since it does not define "political rights". To define this term I refer to the usage I popularized in the "Freedom in the World" series from 1973 to 1989. I defined "political rights" there as: "legal rights to play a part in determining who governs and what the laws of the community are. . . . Political rights exist when the majority decides on the policy of the society either directly or through regularly elected representatives. For political rights to be effectively utilized there should be an oganizaed opposition to the government in power, as well as alternation in power among publicly competing groups." (Raymond D. Gastil, Freedom in the World: 1978: Political Rights and Civil Liberties., G. K. Hall, Boston, 1978, page 7). Of course, this and later annual volumes went into the ramifications of the term at much greater length. One addition that should be mentioned here is that for political rights to be fully effective, the system should assure minorities that they will not find themselves "permanent minorities" unable to find allies that give them a chance to achieve their special goals.