L’idée de liberté politique en démocratie selon Raymond Aron et la question des crises politiques dans l’Afrique actuelle

Abstract

This work highlights the contribution of the Aronian idea of political freedom to the consolidation of democratic achievements in a world gripped by political violence here and there. It revolves around the idea of political freedom in democracy according to Raymond Aron and the question of political crises in contemporary Africa. Thus, how does the French philosopher conceive of the notion of political freedom in democracy? Can the minorization of such a democratic principle explain the political crises observed here and there throughout the world in general, and in particular in Africa? To achieve this, unlike Marx, Aron rejects the primacy of economics over politics. However, this primacy of politics does not mean a unilateral political determination. Indeed, Aron disapproves of one-sided social explanations of any kind, because a single criterion, no matter whether economic or political, is not enough to clarify the complexity of society. This is why any position; attitude of Aron’s political philosophy is closely linked to his position on the philosophy of history. In other words, behind his proposal of a reasonable policy exist epistemological support, namely a determinism of probability. He thus attempts to overcome the antinomy of human becoming between the total unity of the Hegelian-Marxist model and the irreducible plurality of the model of Oswald Spengler. Aron rejects any type of eschatology or messianism guaranteed an advance, because, in his eyes, it is only through choice and decision that man makes his story, while keeping the hope of freedom and humanized society in the Kantian sense. Aron’s stance in favor of political liberalism is a prudent decision made after studying western society. His analysis of totalitarian regimes leads him to argue that such regimes are less preferable than democracies that grant political freedom to citizens because it is not an end but a means. Political freedom for Aron is a fundamental political right, because it is the way in which citizens act or participate in the management of the affairs of the city. It is built on the fact and the direct action of citizens to decide on the exercise of power. For him, the fundamental elements of political freedom in a democracy boil down to the right to vote, to protest and to assemble. Thus, it is the etiolation of this political freedom which seems to explain the contemporary political crises here and there in Africa. For this, this work is a trial aimed at appealing to the political regimes of the world in general and those of Africa in particular to be part of a new, more open and humanist political dynamic, in order to turn their backs on any maneuver diversion that can lead us to procrastinate and shirk necessary commitments.