The Social Contract

The Social Contract

by

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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The Social Contract: Book 3, Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
The sovereign’s power resides in the legislature, which acts through laws that express the general will. Of course, in order to truly express this general will, allthe people” would need to assemble together, which happened in the past, even if it seems unfathomable today: Rousseau cites the example of the Roman Republic, which managed to assemble  virtually weekly despite having hundreds of thousands of citizens. In fact, “the majority of ancient governments […] had similar assemblies.”
Rousseau’s proposal encompasses what is now known as direct democracy: he believes that all the citizens must physically gather in one place to vote collectively on the laws. Of course, when Rousseau wrote that direct democracy was unfathomable, he could have only imagined how much larger and more centralized states would become over the next several centuries: now, the prospect of citizens actually voting on laws seems more than just far-fetched; it seems archaic and laughable to many. However, on the level of local government, it is still conceivable, and Rousseau views involvement in such local government as the backbone of the far larger institutions that purport to speak for the community as a whole.
Themes
Sovereignty, Citizenship, and Direct Democracy Theme Icon
Quotes