3-02-The Principle which constitutes the different forms of Government

The Social Contract

by Jean-Jacques ROUSSEAU (1712 - 1778)

The Social Contract outlines Rousseau's views on political justice, explaining how a just and legitimate state is to be founded, organized and administered. Rousseau sets forth, in his characteristically brazen and iconoclastic manner, the case for direct democracy, while simultaneously casting every other form of government as illegitimate and tantamount to slavery. Often hailed as a revolutionary document which sparked the French Revolution, The Social Contract serves both to inculcate dissatisfaction with actually-existing governments and to allow its readers to envision and desire a radically different form of political and social organization. (Summary by Eric Jonas)

Listen next episodes of The Social Contract:
3-03-Classification of Governments , 3-04-Democracy , 3-05-Arisctocracy , 3-06-Monarchy , 3-07-Mixed Governments , 3-08-That every form of government is not fit for every country , 3-09-The Marks of a good Government , 3-10-The Abuse of the Government and its tendency to degenerate , 3-11-The Dissolution of the Body Politic , 3-12-How the sovereign Authority is Maintained , 3-13-How the sovereign Authority is Maintained (continued) , 3-14-How the sovereign Authority is Maintained (continued) , 3-15-Deputies or Representatives , 3-16-That the Institution of the Government is not a contract , 3-17-The Institution of the Government , 3-18-Means of Preventing Usurpations of the Government , 4-01-That the General Will is indestructible , 4-02-Voting , 4-03-Elections , 4-04-The Roman Comitia , 4-05-The Tribuneship , 4-06-The Dictatorship , 4-07-The Censorship , 4-08-Civil Religion , 4-09-Conclusion