The Social Contract

The Social Contract

by

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Democracy Term Analysis

Rousseau uses the word “democracy” in a way very different from its contemporary meaning. He considers democracy one of the three ways of organizing the government (which in Rousseau’s terms means the executive branch). Whereas a single administrator (or magistrate) rules in a monarchy and a small group of them rule in an aristocracy, in a democracy, all people play an equally important part in implementing the law. Rousseau notes that a “true democracy,” in this sense, is impossible—this would require everyone to “permanently” work for the government implementing laws, and society simply cannot function if every single person is a bureaucrat. But Rousseau emphasizes that the different forms of government are a spectrum, and so a nation would be a “democracy” in his sense when a majority of people work for the government implementing the law. He emphasizes that a society would need to be very small, humble, and equal for this system to have any chance of working, because people would have to wield power over their friends and neighbors without growing corrupt. Moreover, Rousseau thinks that democracies could scarcely get anything done because they distribute power so broadly, and they would be catastrophic in theory because they do not create the separation between legislative and executive powers that is necessary for laws to be formulated and applied equally. Again, it must be emphasized that Rousseau uses the word “democracy” to refer exclusively to the way a state organizes its executive branch. In its modern usage, the word “democracy” essentially refers to any state that is ruled by the people (rather than a king or small group of elites). In this sense of the term, all three of Rousseau’s forms of government are what we would now call “democracies” because lawmaking power ultimately rests with the people (who make up the sovereign).
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Democracy Term Timeline in The Social Contract

The timeline below shows where the term Democracy appears in The Social Contract. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 3, Chapter 3: Classification of Governments
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...basis. If every citizen (or the majority of citizens) serves as a magistrate, there is democracy. If a few citizens are magistrates, there is aristocracy. And if there is one magistrate... (full context)
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...chapter: states with larger populations of citizens should have relatively fewer magistrates. Therefore, he concludes, “democratic government suits small states, aristocratic government suits states of intermediate size and monarchy suits large... (full context)
Book 3, Chapter 4: Democracy
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Democracy “unite[s] the executive power with the legislative,” but this creates a situation Rousseau calls “government... (full context)
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Of course, no “true democracy” can ever exist—an entire country’s population will not “sit permanently in an assembly to deal... (full context)
Book 3, Chapter 5: Aristocracy
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...still requires “virtues of its own,” like “moderation”—but not as much virtue or equality as democracy requires. It is also essential that merit, rather than wealth, determines who is elected. (full context)
Book 3, Chapter 6: Monarchy
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...are good at conquering territory, they “are almost always inadequate” at administrating it. In a democracy or aristocracy, government is always continuous, but when a monarch dies, electing a new one... (full context)
Book 3, Chapter 8: That All Forms of Government Do Not Suit All Countries
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...be “opulent” to survive. In general, in fact, monarchies concentrate power in private hands while democracies tend to distribute it for the common good. (full context)
Book 3, Chapter 10: The Abuse of Government and its Tendency to Degenerate
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...anarchy, or more specifically ochlocracy, oligarchy, or tyranny (if the government started out as a democracy, aristocracy, or monarchy, respectively). “Tyrant,” Rousseau clarifies, is often used to mean any powerful king... (full context)
Book 3, Chapter 17: The Institution of the Government
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...and discuss it as a subcommittee of itself, the sovereign can temporarily become its own democratic government to appoint magistrates, before then going back to being the sovereign. (full context)
Book 4, Chapter 3: Elections
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...emphasizes that, either way, elections are the government’s job (not the sovereign’s). In a perfect democracy, random elections would be fairer because serving as a magistrate is “a heavy responsibility” for... (full context)