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Title Page Study of Mikhail Bakunin's Concept of Power TITLE PAGE STUDY OF MIKHAIL BAKUNIN’S CONCEPT OF POWER AND AUTHORITY A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A MASTER OF ARTS (MA) DEGREE IN PHILOSOPHY BY IJI PAUL IJI PG/MA/06/41372 SUPERVISOR DR. J.O. ENEH FEBRUARY 2009 i DEDICATION To Almighty God; to my beloved wife Mrs Nina Iji and the entire Iji Awugo Paul’s family with love. ii CERTIFICATION Iji, Paul Iji, a Master of Arts student in the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with Registration Number: PG/MA/06/41372, has satisfactorily completed the requirements (course work and dissertation) for the award of Master of Arts Degree (M.A) in philosophy. The dissertation is original and has not been submitted in part or in full for any other degree of this or any other University. --------------------------------- ------------------------------- IJI PAUL IJI DR. J.O ENEH PG/MA/06/41372 SUPERVISOR --------------------------- Prof. J.C.A. Agbakoba (Ag. Head of Department) iii APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has been approved for the Department of Philosophy, University of Nigeria Nsukka, in partial fulfillment for the award of Master of Arts (M.A) Degree in Philosophy. By -------------------------- ----------------------------- Dr. J. O. Eneh Internal Examiner (Supervisor) --------------------------- ----------------------------- Prof. J.C.A. Agbakoba External Examiner (Ag. Head of Department) ----------------------------------- Dean of the Faculty. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I sincerely express my profound gratitude to all who in one way or another have contributed to the completion of this work. May God Almighty reward them abundantly. I am particularly grateful to Prof. J.C.A. Agbakoba and Dr. Joseph O. Eneh, my supervisors, for their patience and acceptance to supervise this work as well as for their helpful suggestions. I am also thankful to all my lecturers in the Department of Philosophy, University of Nigeria among whom are Prof. F.U. Okafor, Prof. Egbeke Aja, Dr F.O.C. Njoku, Dr. B.O. Eboh and Dr. Chukwu Elube for their advice, assistance and contributions in making this work a success. I am specially grateful to my late father, Iji I Obu, late Mother, Otelahu Iji, Nee Ogbike, who are not alive to see their son graduated to this level of my academic. I am grateful to entire Iji Obu’s family brothers and sisters for their support, prayers and cooperation. I am grateful to Rev. Dr. J.O. Ikoni, Rev. Dr. N. Chuka, Dr. P.O. Agogo, Rev. Mrs. Lady Shande M., Mr. Onah Ode, Mr. Ituen Ebong Bassey, my Elder sister, Comfort Ire Agbike, my late father in-law J.H. Dzungwe, for their tireless financial support in the course of my studies. May God reward them abundantly. My gratitude also goes to Mr. Daniel Nyamgee, Chuka Okoye, Philip Idachaba, Ichaba Amos, Ogaba Solomon and to all my class mates who have proven to be good friends and companion for this programme. Finally, my thanks go to my room mates; Paul Haaga, Okpanachi Anthony Okpanachi Idoko. I am grateful to Miss Eze, Rita who did the typesetting of this work and to all my friends who gave me moral support during this work. May God bless you all. v ABSTRACT The work centres on the study of Mikhail Bakunin’s concept of Power and Authority. Power and Authority are so central in the organisation of any society. No society can thrive in a situation where nobody is in control. Philosophers all through the ages have advocated for one form of power and Authority or another. In this work, Mikhail Bakunin presents his own concept of power and authority that will enable the society to attain the end or purpose of its existence. Bakunin is seen as an anarchist by some scholars. However, in this work, Bakunins’ concept of power and authority is viewed in what Bakunin identified as secret dictatorship. What this means is that machinery will be put in motion to carry out a broadly based propaganda. By the power of this propaganda, and also by organisation among people themselves then join together separate popular forces in a mighty strength capable of demolishing the state. Invariably, what Bakunin is advocating is a stateless society without any hierarchy or government and every citizen is equal. This work will X-ray in a critical manner the merits and demerits of Bakunins’ view. The work concludes that no society can function well without Power and Authority. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page..................................…………………………………………………... …………i Dedication ………………………………………………………………………………..ii Certification Page…………………………………………………………………………....iii Approval Page ……………………………………………………………………………….iv Acknowledgement ………………………………………………………………………..v Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………….vi Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………vii Chapter One: Introduction ……………………………………………………………..…1 1.1 Background of the Study ………………………………………………………………..1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ………………………………………………………………..2 1.3 Purpose of the Study ………………………………………………………………..2 1.4 Significance of the Study ………………………………………………………………..3 1.5 Scope of the Study ………………………………………………………………..3 1.5 Methodology of the Study ………………………………………………………..3 Chapter Two: Literature Review ……………………………………………………..…5 2.1 Review of Related Literature ……………………………………………………..…5 Chapter Three: Power And Authority in Mikhail Bakunin…………………………….22 3.1 Life and Times of Mikhail Bakunin ………………………………………………22 3.2 Bakunin's Maxian Point of Departure……. ………………………………………23 3.3 Power and Authority in Politics . ………………………………………………25 3.4 Anthropological/Ontological Foundations of Bakunin's Philosophy ………………26 3.5 The Concept of Liberty ………………………………………………………………29 3.6 Natural Law and the Law of Nature ………………………………………………30 3.7 Liberty and Authority in Mikhail ………………………………………………………34 3.8 Man Society and Freedom ………………………………………………………35 3.9 The theory of the State ………………………………………………………………37 3.10 The Ideal Political Arrangement For Bakunin: Influence, not Power ………………38 Chapter Four: Evaluating The Philosophy of Mikhail Bakunin ………………………44 4.1 Preamble ………………………………………………………………………………44 4.2 The Defect of the Anthropological and Ontological Foundations of Bakunin’s Philosophy ………………………………………………………………………44 4.3 Violence, Revolution and Invisible Dictatorship ………………………………………45 vii 4.4 Nationalism …………………………………………………………………..……46 4.5 Anti- Semitism ……………………………………………………………..…………47 4.6 Eurocentricism ………………………………………………………….…………….47 4.7 The Case for Vanguardism in Bakunin ……………………………….……………….48 4.8 The Marxist Critique of Left Anarchism …………………………….………………….51 Chapter Five: Summary and Conclusion …………………………. …………………….55 5.1 Summary ………………………………………………….…………………………….55 5.2 Conclusion ……………………………………...………………………………………..58 Bibliography …………………….………………………………………………….60 viii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study The issue of how best to manage authority in the state has been the concern of social and political theorists through the history of social and political philosophy. How best to balance authority with liberty has been the concern too. In the light of the above, various traditions on the relationship between liberty and authority have emerged. There are the libertarians who argue that there should be limited authority in the state, upholding the superiority of liberty over authority. The authoritarians argue on the other hand that, all authority should be given to the state and individuals and their liberty have no place at all. The anarchists have the opinion that no authority is needed in the state, that all authority in the state should be abolished. It is in line with the anarchists that Bakunin presents his case for power and authority. In his opinion, “men are endowed with a natural instinct for power which has its origin from the basic law of life making every individual… to exercise a continuous struggle to ensure and maintain his existence or…to assert his rights. The struggle for this power began in a crude act of cannibalism and then proceeded throughout the centuries under various religious banners. From these, it moved successfully through all…forms of slavery. Presently the struggle is taking place under the double aspect of exploitation…of wage labour by capital, political, judicial, civil, and military and police oppression by the state, church and state officials”1. This instinct is universal to all men, and he writes, “every man carries within himself the germs of this lust for power, and every germ, as we know because of a basic law of life necessary must grow if only it finds in its environment favourable conditions. These conditions in human society are the stupidity, apathy, indifference and service habits of the masses”2. 1 By implication, one may hold that it is the masses themselves who produce those exploiters, oppressors, despots and executioners of humanity of whom they are victims. Because of the evil tenets that go with power, Bakunin detests power in all ramifications. He maintains that no one should be entrusted with power in as much as anyone invested with authority must through the force of an immutable social law, become an oppressor and exploiter of society. Power and authority, according to him, corrupt those who exercise them as much as those who are compelled to submit to them. They use this power and authority for their own benefit and at the detriment of others. Basically, he presents the case that all authority should be abolished in the state. How credible this position is, is what sets the background for this research.
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