Political egalitarianism

A founding principle of many democracies, political egalitarianism prefers less concentrated political power or influence as well as equal and fair treatment of all regardless of characteristics like race, religion, wealth or intelligence. This is expressed in such principles as one person, one vote, equality before the law, and equal rights of free speech. Political equality is only achieved when the norms, rules and procedures that govern the community afford equal consideration to all. Robert Dahl believes that the ideal of democracy assumes that political equality is desirable. He goes on to argue that political equality and democracy are supported by the inherent intrinsic equal worth of every person (intrinsic equality) and the tendency of concentrated power to corrupt. Equality before the law Equality before law means that the law applies to all peoples equally and without exceptions. Laws can sometimes be designed to help minimize unequal application. Well-designed constitutions, for example, can help protect political rights in functioning democracies.

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Related concepts (2)

Social equality

Social equality is a state of affairs in which all individuals within a specific society have equal rights, liberties, and status, possibly including civil rights, freedom of expression, autonomy, and equal access to certain public goods and social services. Social equality requires the absence of legally enforced social class or caste boundaries and the absence of discrimination motivated by an inalienable part of an individual's identity.

Liberalism

Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, right to private property and equality before the law. Liberals espouse various views depending on their understanding of these principles but generally support private property, market economies, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), liberal democracy, secularism, rule of law, economic and political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion, constitutional government and privacy rights.