Political rights: definition, meaning and specificity

Political rights are a concept that oftenis used in the abstract sense. It correlates with justice, ethical correctness, or harmony with such a principle as the rule of law or moral imperatives. In a specific, legal sense, they mean the ability, privilege, and even the requirement of a particular person to fulfill what it can claim by virtue of a law guaranteed by the state. Every such right of the individual is correlated with the corresponding duty. For example, if someone is the owner of a house, this means that other people are not required to invade there without permission.

Although people have rights due to theirbelonging to the form of homo sapiens, political rights have their own specifics. As a rule, they have every citizen of a state. Among them there are proper civil rights. It is, first of all, the opportunity to own property, to marry, to be protected by law, to have the freedom to enter into contracts, to speak and testify in court, and so on. As for political freedoms, they are most often directly or indirectly related to the administration of power or administration. An example is the right to citizenship, to vote, to elect and be elected, to participate in the political life of the state.

Most often, the political rights of citizensare fixed in the Constitutions of different countries. They are absolute and relative. Absolute norms can be divided into three large categories. First of all, these are the standards of personal safety that must be provided to a person by the state - this means that he must be calm for his life, for the integrity of his body, for the body, for his health and reputation among other people. In addition, these are the rights to personal freedom - people can move at will on the territory of the country, change their place of residence, and so on - unless this is somehow not legally restricted. And, finally, people can freely dispose of their possessions or acquisitions without any external control (again, with the exception of lawful).

Relative rights are divided into private andpublic. These political rights can exist in the context of relations between the state and the people (since the former must guarantee the freedom and security of the latter, and the people are obliged to identify a certain responsibility for the normal functioning of the state). Next comes the sphere of family relations, where the mutual rights and duties of the wife and husband, children and parents, other relatives, as well as guardians and wards are determined. Thus, if many basic standards, including personal rights, belong to every person, this category is related to those who possess citizenship.

This specificity does not mean that political rightsare some kind of secondary or derivative and inferior to other natural norms, inalienable and inalienable from human existence. The fact is that by their nature they are not provided by the state, and are not established by it, but are only guaranteed, protected and respected. Therefore, one can not say that these rights can be taken away. The authorities and the law can also limit the realization of such freedoms if citizens do not perform certain duties. The right to freedom, for example, may be limited if a person violates the freedom of others or is a party to various criminal acts.

Political rights and freedoms of man andcitizens had a long history before they became respected and universally recognized principles. For a long time people fought for their implementation, however, full awareness and recognition of them as the norms necessary for a normal and dignified life came only with the onset of the XVII-XVIII centuries. Historically, the first such standards were that many European states were forced to accept the presence in their countries of religious minority dissidents who believed differently from the majority of the population and committed not only not to pursue them, but even to defend themselves from attacks. This legislative restriction of discrimination also gave rise to the whole process of codification and observance of other rights.