Abstract
Political science has been considerably changed by the English Revolution of the 17th century. Indeed, this revolution happened because of the contestation of the British king legitimacy by a certain number of political thinkers. First, Sir Edward Coke, jurist and member of the Parliament, stood against despotic orientations of kings James I and Charles I of England in the early 17th century (Lécuyer, 2001).
Hence, other critics were made to make politics change and the most revolutionary ones were those of John Locke, an English philosopher and physician. His political thought was new and went against previous ones: John Locke is generally considered as the father of liberalism. In this turbulent time, his writings allowed to legitimize William Orange who had been proclaimed king of England as a consequence of the Glorious Revolution. Indeed, Locke considered that the tradition of a king as an executive officer of the Parliament was threatened by the previous government unlike William III of England who defended a parliamentary regime.
Such regime is the best regime according to Locke because it limits the king's power and it allows citizens to decide for their future. It is important to understand to what extent Locke's basis assumptions about human nature influence his theory of the legitimate government which is necessarily limited. Firstly, we will study what is the state of nature according to Locke and why it is necessary for men to gather in a political community with a common authority. Secondly, we will explain the core of its theory about governments and why it is necessary to limit authorities' power.
