Full Idea
Social contract theories have all been subjected to the same criticism - that there never was such a state of nature, or such a contract. Hence neither citizens nor government are bound by it. Contracts only create obligations if they are actually agreed.
Gist of Idea
Social contract theories are usually rejected because there never was such a contract
Source
Will Kymlicka (Contemporary Political Philosophy (1st edn) [1990], 3.3)
Book Reference
Kymlicka,Will: 'Contemporary Political Philosophy (1st edn)' [OUP 1992], p.59
A Reaction
Even if they have been agreed in the past, why should subsequent generations be bound to them? Modern Germans aren't bound by their grandparents' oaths of allegiance to fascism.