ABSTRACT
According to liberal political theory, as formulated by John Locke, any individual citizen oppressed by rulers of the state has a right to disobey their commands, break their laws, even rebel and seek to replace rulers and change the laws. The process by which obligations are incurred and the process by which they come to be felt are obviously not the same, or not necessarily the same. They are similar, however, in at least one respect: they are both social processes. Obligations can arise in groups of two, between friends, partners, or lovers. Obligation begins with membership, but membership in the broadest sense, for there are a great variety of formal and informal ways of living within a particular circle of action and commitment. Many political philosophers have insisted that there exists a prima facie obligation to obey the laws of the most inclusive organized society of which one is a member, that is, for most men, the state.
