칼뱅의 정치사상과 민주주의 ― 관헌과 국민의 복종 및 저항권을 중심으로 = Calvin's Political Thought and Democracy: Focusing on Magistrate, People’s Obedience and Right to Resist

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This thesis examines Calvin’s political thought with a focus on the themes of Magistrate, the people's obedience and right to resist, and evaluates how it might have affected the development of modern democracy. It is not a simple task to grasp his ideas in relation to democracy. Although his ideas are vast, each were expressed differently depending on the complex political situations of the time. This is the reason why evaluations of him have been varied and contradictory so far.
I look at the influence of Calvin’s political thought on modern democracy more positively. Of course, from today’s point of view, his ideas do fall short of modern democracy. However, it should be taken into account that Calvin was person of the transitional period from the Middle Ages to the modern era, and moreover, as a religious man, he considered that everything centered around the Bible and God. He was also concerned about the safety of the French-speaking Reformation, so he was conscious of those in power and needed to censor himself.
Calvin’s political ideas reflect the results of compromises with the absolute monarchy, especially politically, for the cause of the Reformation.
Although there are such limitations, it is clear that his distinct democratic and rule-of-law character revealed throughout his writings is a spiritual legacy that contributed to the development of later democracy. For example, Calvin advocated for the ‘separation of powers’ in which officials cooperated, checked, and monitored each other. In addition, since the official could pursue unlimited power and self-interest, his authority was strictly limited by law and recognized only within the limits of the law. Regarding the abuse or misuse of power by the government officials, he opposed private individual initiatives, but suggested a systematic way of the low-ranking officials officiating high-ranking officials’ affairs and the high-ranking officials officiating the low-ranking officials’ affairs. He also preferred in modern terms ‘representative politics,’ in which the dangers of oligarchy and the chaos of democracy were simultaneously eliminated by referring to the ‘mixed government’ of aristocracy and democracy which maintained its strengths.
All of these points eventually led to strict rule of law, separation of powers and mutual checks, prevention of abuse of power through rational and institutional procedures, and elite politics (representative system) through democratic elections.
Calvin also paved the way for resistance to tyrants based on freedom of conscience.
After his death, during the turbulent times of the Protestant repression and religious wars, the Monarchomachs developed a theory of popular sovereignty that allowed legal resistance to and even execution of the king. Such ideas flowed beyond the Monarchomachs and into the modern democratic revolutions through modern Enlightenment thinkers and revolutionaries such as John Milton, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Oliver Cromwell and Roger Williams etc. Calvin’s ideas were realized in modern democratic political institutions through the Petition of Rights, the Bill of Rights, the US Constitution and Human Rights Declarations. Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Calvin’s political ideology was democratic, open to modern democracy, and had a substantial impact on its development.

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