Henry David Thoreau’s Theory of Civil Disobedience as an Authentic Paradigm for Political and Social Change

Abstract

The idea for forming government is to bring about order, safety, peace, wellbeing and organization of the human society. In the formation, a contract between the governors and the governed is entered into - the governors to protect the life, property, liberty and provide basic necessities of life and conducive environment for the wellbeing of the governed who in turn submit to and obey the laws promulgated for the general good. In quite a number of cases however, governments fail or renege on the contract by not promoting justice, rule of law, accountability, transparency, equity and fair-play. On the contrary, they perpetrate injustice of various kinds - oppression, suppression, humiliation, intimidation, and marginalization of their citizens via obnoxious laws, policies and programmes. Nigeria typifies the global perpetration of injustice on the governed by the government. In response, citizens often resort to protests and agitation for political and social change. The challenge however, is about the violence which often accompanies protests and agitations leading to deaths, physical and psychological injuries, destruction of public and private properties, and general breakdown of law and order. It is in view of preventing these inimical consequences that Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience is studied and proposed as an authentic 
paradigm for political and social change globally.