A Duty to Resist

When Disobedience Should Be Uncivil

By: Candice Delmas

Narrated by: Allyson Ryan

What are our responsibilities in the face of injustice? How far should we go to fight it? Many would argue that as long as a state is nearly just, citizens have a moral duty to obey the law. Proponents of civil disobedience generally hold that, given this moral duty, a person needs a solid justification to break the law. But activists from Henry David Thoreau and Mohandas Gandhi to the Movement for Black Lives have long recognized that there are times when, rather than having a duty to obey the law, we have a duty to disobey it.

Taking seriously the history of this activism, A Duty to Resist wrestles with the problem of political obligation in real world societies that harbor injustice. Candice Delmas argues that the duty of justice, the principle of fairness, the Samaritan duty, and political association impose responsibility to resist under conditions of injustice. We must expand political obligation to include a duty to resist unjust laws and social conditions even in legitimate states.

©2018 Oxford University Press (P)2018 Tantor

Civil Disobedience... moral or political duty?

Delmar delivers a great and compelling argument as to her belief that civil disobedience is a political duty against laws and morals that are unjust and deprive specific groups of full equality and protection of the laws of the land. must read.