Should we obey unjust laws? The right to civil disobedience in John Rawls

Abstract

Never the subject of civil disobedience was so present than the past six years. Since the financial crisis that had a beginning in 2008 with the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank network, we follow a rising tide of discontent and uprisings in several countries, not limited to one or another continent. If we consider that obedience to the laws of the state is a political obligation of citizens, the option of direct resistance to them is not included in the legal activities that individuals can exercise. Nevertheless, unjust laws may be directed in nearly just societies, leading to deadlocks: should obey unjust laws or it is for citizens to rebel against them and claim that their wishes are heard? If there is legitimacy in popular resistance, how it should occur? By way of explanation, this article aims to expose where it fits the concept of civil disobedience within a constitutional democratic society, according to the philosophy of John Rawls, initially based on the reconstruction of the influential essay written by Henry David Thoreau.