Editing Jean-Jacques Rousseau (section)

===Political theory===
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[[File:Ile Rousseau Geneva Switzerland.JPG|thumb|Île Rousseau, Geneva]]

According to Rousseau, the original forms of government to emerge - monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy - were all products of the differing levels of inequality in their societies. However, they would always end up with ever worse levels of inequality, until a revolution would have overthrown it and new leaders would have emerged with further extremes of injustice.{{sfn|Wokler|2001|p=67}} Nevertheless, the human capacity for self-improvement remained.{{sfn|Wokler|2001|p=69}} As the problems of humanity were the product of political choice, they could also be improved by a better political system.{{sfn|Wokler|2001|p=72}}

''[[The Social Contract]]'' outlines the basis for a legitimate political order within a framework of [[classical republicanism]]. Published in 1762, it became one of the most influential works of political philosophy in the Western tradition. It developed some of the ideas mentioned in an earlier work, the article ''Économie Politique'' (''Discourse on Political Economy''), featured in Diderot's ''[[Encyclopédie]]''. In the book, Rousseau sketched the image of a new political system for regaining human freedom.{{sfn|Wokler|2001|p=72}}

Rousseau claimed that the state of nature was a primitive condition without law or morality, which human beings left for the benefits and necessity of cooperation. As society developed, the division of labor and private property required the human race to adopt institutions of law. In the degenerate phase of society, man is prone to be in frequent competition with his fellow men while also becoming increasingly dependent on them. This double pressure threatens both his survival and his freedom.

According to Rousseau, by joining together into civil society through the [[social contract]] and abandoning their claims of [[Natural and legal rights|natural right]], individuals can both preserve themselves and remain free. This is because submission to the authority of the [[general will]] of the people as a whole guarantees individuals against being subordinated to the wills of others and also ensures that they obey themselves because they are, collectively, the authors of the law.

Although Rousseau argues that [[sovereignty]] (or the power to make the laws) should be in the hands of the people, he also makes a sharp distinction between the sovereign and the government. The government is composed of magistrates, charged with implementing and enforcing the general will. The "sovereign" is the rule of law, ideally decided on by [[direct democracy]] in an assembly.

Rousseau opposed the idea that the people should exercise sovereignty via a [[Representative democracy|representative assembly]] (Book III, chapter XV). He approved the form of republican government of the city-state, for which Geneva provided a model—or would have done if renewed on Rousseau's principles. France could not meet Rousseau's criterion of an ideal state because it was too big. Much subsequent controversy about Rousseau's work has hinged on disagreements concerning his claims that citizens constrained to obey the general will are thereby rendered free:

<blockquote>
The notion of the general will is wholly central to Rousseau's theory of political legitimacy. ... It is, however, an unfortunately obscure and controversial notion. Some commentators see it as no more than the dictatorship of the proletariat or the tyranny of the urban poor (such as may perhaps be seen in the French Revolution). Such was not Rousseau's meaning. This is clear from the ''Discourse on Political Economy'', where Rousseau emphasizes that the general will exists to protect individuals against the mass, not to require them to be sacrificed to it. He is, of course, sharply aware that men have selfish and sectional interests which will lead them to try to oppress others. It is for this reason that loyalty to the good of all alike must be a supreme (although not exclusive) commitment by everyone, not only if a truly general will is to be heeded but also if it is to be formulated successfully in the first place.<ref>Entry, "Rousseau" in the ''Routelege Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Edward Craig, editor, Volume Eight, p. 371</ref>
</blockquote>

A remarkable peculiarity of ''Social Contract'' is its logical rigor, which Rousseau had learned in his twenties from mathematics:
{{blockquote| Rousseau develops his theory in an almost mathematical manner, deriving statements from the initial thesis that man must keep close to nature. The 'natural' state, with its original liberty and equality, is hindered by man's 'unnatural' involvement in collective activities resulting in inequality which, in turn, infringes on liberty. The purpose of this social contract, which is a kind of tacit agreement, is simply to guarantee equality and, consequently, liberty as the superior social values...

A number of political statements, particularly about the organization of powers, are derived from the 'axioms' of equality among citizens and their subordination to the general will.|[[Andranik Tangian]] (2014) ''Mathematical Theory of Democracy''<ref name="Tangian2014">{{Cite book |last=Tangian |first=Andranik |date=2014 |title=Mathematical theory of democracy |series=Studies in Choice and Welfare |pages=106, 110 |publisher=Springer |location=Berlin; Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-642-38723-4 |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-38724-1}}</ref>|source=}}