A necessary condition for the existence of political institutions. Unfree societies have no need for them since they exist to challenge their rule. Following the description below, you'll note mention of the First Amendment to the United States, which establishes a practical way to limits to be placed on the powers of government.
Definitions:
- From Wikipedia:
a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies. Political freedom was described as freedom from oppression, or coercion, the absence of disabling conditions for an individual and the fulfillment of enabling conditions, or the absence of life conditions of compulsion, e.g. economic compulsion, in a society. Although political freedom is often interpreted negatively as the freedom from unreasonable external constraints on action, it can also refer to the positive exercise of rights, capacities and possibilities for action and the exercise of social or group rights. The concept can also include freedom from internal constraints on political action or speech (e.g. social conformity, consistency, or inauthentic behavior). The concept of political freedom is closely connected with the concepts of civil liberties and human rights, which in democratic societies are usually afforded legal protection from the state.
- From Freedom House: What Are Political Freedoms?
Citizens in politically free nations should be able to do the following:
• Participate freely in the political process.
• Vote freely in legitimate elections.
• Elect representatives who will be accountable to them.
• Exercise freedom of expression and belief.
• Assemble and associate freely.
• Have access to an established, equitable system of rule of law.
• Have social and economic freedoms including equal access to economic opportunities and the right to hold private property.
- From Freedom House: Countries and Territories:
Click for a rank ordering of countries based on levels of freedom.
- From Britannica: Civil and Political Liberty:
a state of freedom, especially as opposed to political subjection, imprisonment, or slavery. Its two most generally recognized divisions are political and civil liberty.
Civil liberty is the absence of arbitrary restraint and the assurance of a body of rights, such as those found in bills of rights, in statutes, and in judicial decisions. Such liberty, however, is not inconsistent with regulations and restrictions imposed by law for the common good. Political liberty consists of the right of individuals to participate in government by voting and by holding public office.
- From Findlaw: The First Amendment - Freedom of Speech, Religion, and the Press:
the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects many of the civil rights associated with life as an American, including free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. It also addresses the right to protest peacefully and petition the government.
