Self-governance


Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a group or individual to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of institution, such as family units, social groups, affinity groups, legal bodies, industry bodies, religions, and political entities of various degree.
Self-governance is closely related to socio-philosophical concepts of self-control and self-discipline, and to socio-political concepts of sovereignty, independence and autonomy. In the context of nation-states, self-governance is called national sovereignty which is an important concept in international law. In the context of administrative division, a self-governing territory is called an autonomous region.
Self-governance is also associated with political contexts in which a population or demographic becomes independent from colonial rule, absolute government, absolute monarchy or any government which they perceive does not adequately represent them. It is therefore a fundamental tenet of many democracies, republics and nationalist governments. Mohandas Gandhi's term "swaraj" is a branch of this self-rule ideology. Henry David Thoreau was a major proponent of self-rule in lieu of immoral governments.

Background

In ancient Greek philosophy, Plato posits the concept of as the ability to be one's own master. He outlines that unless individuals or groups govern their own pleasures and desires they will be enslaved and will not be free. This concept is understood by scholars as a fundamental moral freedom but also as a necessary condition of political freedom, and by extension the freedom and autonomy of the political structure.
John Locke shared a similar view that genuine liberty requires cognitive self-discipline and self-government, and that man's capacity for this is the source of all freedom. In this sense, freedom is not a possession but an action. Locke proposes that rationality is the key to liberty and true agency, and that political governance is enabled by the governing of one's own judgement. His political philosophy was a prominent influence on Immanuel Kant, and was later taken up in part by the Founding Fathers of the United States.
The nature of self-governance, that freedom relies upon self-regulation, was further explored by contemporary academics Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, William E. Connolly, and others.

Means of self-governance

The means of self-governance usually comprises some or all of the following: