World Public Opinion

Research Paper # 53590

Philosophy
Political Science > Political Theory

This paper defines public opinion and examines whether governments have used public opinion as a political weapon.

3,236 words () | 14 sources | MLA | 2002 Singapore

Paper Summary:

This paper attempts to define 'world public opinion' by drawing upon facets of what we understand of 'public opinion' and by drawing on insights in existing literature. It argues that we see the communication of opinion as a feature of dynamic systems, not merely as a tool unto itself that exists purely as someone's weapon, but an inherent characteristic of human society.

Outline
Public Opinion and Consent
The Notion of World Public Opinion
Opinion as an Inalienable Part of an Open System
References

From the Paper:

In the texts from the Western political tradition, the existence of government as moral arbiter for a community of individuals has been assumed to depend on the consent of the ruled. This started off with the idea of the Athenian democracy, where the decisions of the polis were decided with the elites and an assembly of citizens in counsel through discussion and debate. Even as Niccolo Machiavelli generally wrote of the Prince as only needing to appear good, he also wrote that "one of the most powerful remedies that a prince has against conspiracies is not to be hated by the people generally" and even if Machiavelli did note the alternative of securing consent to rule from "those communities which are most powerful" - the soldiers, it is still consent of a different stripe.