Political obligation

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Political obligation" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Political obligation refers to a moral requirement to obey national laws.^[1] Its origins are unclear, however it traces to the Ancient Greeks. The idea of political obligation is philosophical, focusing on the morality of laws, rather than justice. Discussion of political obligation grew during the era of social contract theory, in which Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were crucial in explaining the idea and its importance. Political obligation is distinct from legal obligation.