Politics Short Assignment (Article B & C)

For: Prof.W.Petrozzi From: Wei Shen Student Number :500335865

Article B&C Review The first article of this course, cleverly titled Human Needs and Political Goods introduces the concepts of the famous theory that is known as the Maslows model. According Maslows hypothesis, humans have five basic needs that they must achieve to become fully develop; those needs are welfare, safety, affection, self-esteem and self-actualization. Those elements are also reflected upon political ideals as welfare, security, fraternity, equality and liberty respectively. The article exanimate each aspect of Maslows model closely and relate its influence on political policies. Firstly, the article explores the initial factor of Maslows model, which is the essential need for food and water. Based on the study and test done by Ancel Keys and his associates from University of Minnesota, it had been proven that the lack of provisions will cause human to retract both socially and psychologically. A further study on the third world countrys rural area during the season with low food supply also shown a supporting result to Keys finding. Thus without a proper source of food, maintaining a society is extremely difficult. The second element of Maslows model is the need for security. Even the famous political writer Thomas Hobbes agreed that security is essential for the establishment of any form of society. According to Hobbes, Wherein men live without other security than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withall and which is worst of all, continual fears, and danger of violent. This means that there will be no development of any kind if the sense of safety is not available. Thus, political policies are created by human to ensure the need of their safety is satisfy. The third factor of Maslows thesis is known as affection or fraternity in political terms. A famous quote from Aristotle states that man is by nature a political animal is implying that humans are by character, needed others to accompany them. While many others such as Sigmund Freud and Erich Fromm believed that human is motivated by love and the sense of unification with others, it is clear that humans are indeed a social race. This aspect of humanity is an essential component for the structure of any form of society, in other words, a building block of politics. Because human care for each other, that we are able to consistently contribute politically and ideally toward our society, thus continuing to fulfil the humanitys need for fraternity. The fourth element of Maslows theory is the need for self-esteem, which in the political language is known as equality. Human requires self-esteem; it is what an individual separate himself/herself from others, and to feel a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence. From the political point of view, self-esteem is a call for the demand of equality. Equality is extremely important toward a healthy society. Even with equal opportunity, the ones with higher moral, or in this case, selfesteem, are more likely to success than the ones with less self-esteem. Thus the issue is not the inequality of opportunity, but the inequality of how the society treats the individuals from different background. The final aspect of Maslows ideas is self actualization or liberty in the political sphere. In Maslows view, self actualization is for a fully developed person, who is already achieving the limit of what he/she is capable to become as a human being. According to the article, those who had achieved the level of self-actualization are perfect for involving in the world of politics, since they are the most reasonable, common and fundamental. In addition, due the nature of self-actualization, the road toward the achievement is so diverse, many already self actualized individuals involved in politics to apply government actions and policies as tools to satisfy the need for their self-actualization. This is what being promoted as liberty or in todays world as freedom. In conclusion, even though we understood our human needs and their importance to our society, it is still a challenge to manage them politically, as

most of times, the society must face decision on which need is in a greater demand and more beneficial for the community. The second article is focusing toward the movement of the human rights. It describes the human history as a history of the struggle for human rights. In addition, it provides detailed statics for the global human rights movement. The article categorizes each section of human rights into five sections. The first section focuses on the freedom from discrimination, a huge issue even in the developed nations. The data has shown an improvement of poverty rate and life expectancy. However there are issues such as AIDS and education deduction from political transition that are plaguing the equality. The second section is the freedom from fear, which displayed the disturbing result of armed conflicts and the newly recognition of war crime against humanity. The third part is the freedom from injustice. Freedom from injustice implies that the human right does not enforce on the people or is bias against a group of individuals. An example of this is the corruption of the developed countries. Freedom of participation is the fourth segment of this article is the freedom of participation. This involves the rights for individuals to have the rights to vote and participate in labour movements. The final division is the freedom for decent work, which provides the rights of for labourers. Treating worker right is extremely important, as it does improve productivity and also the standard of living of the country. The two articles (B and C) related each other well. Article B introduce the human needs, which from the other point of view, the essential building block of a society. As politics is made by man, and for man, it is a system and law that ensures the needs are satisfied and thus the society can continue to advance and prosper. Human rights tie closely to the Maslow model of human needs. Without a solid foundation of human rights, the road toward achieving the basic needs of welfare, security, affection and self esteem will be crippled and thus hinder a proper development of the society. In other words, politics is a tool to satisfy the essential human needs, thus a strong political system also needs to ensure the rights of the citizens are properly enforced, such like many developing countries like China, who had displayed a rapid growth of standard of living and productivity as they reform their political system and improve their human rights system.