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Single Idea 19797

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / d. General will ]

Full Idea

To avoid the general compact being an empty formula, it tacitly entails the commitment that whoever refuses to obey the general will will be forced to do so by the entire body. This means merely that he will be forced to be free.

Gist of Idea

Citizens must ultimately for forced to accept the general will (so freedom is compulsory!)

Source

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract (tr Cress) [1762], I.7)

Book Ref

Rousseau,Jean-Jacques: 'The Basic Political Writings', ed/tr. Cress,Donald A. [Hackett 1987], p.150

A Reaction

Rousseau obviously enjoyed this paradox (which sounds like US foreign policy). Apart from anarchism, any political system will need a bit of force to back it up. Should democratic voting becoming compulsory, if the turnout declines too far?

The 86 ideas from 'The Social Contract (tr Cress)'

20501 Rousseau assumes that laws need a people united by custom and tradition [Rousseau, by Wolff,J]
20567 Rousseau insists that popular sovereignty needs a means of expressing consent [Rousseau, by Oksala]
7232 Man is born free, and he is everywhere in chains [Rousseau]
7233 The social order is a sacred right, but based on covenants, not nature [Rousseau]
19790 Force can only dominate if it is seen as a right, and obedience as a duty [Rousseau]
7235 Without freedom of will actions lack moral significance [Rousseau]
19791 Natural mankind is too fragmented for states of peace, or of war and enmity [Rousseau]
7234 No man has any natural authority over his fellows [Rousseau]
7236 War gives no right to inflict more destruction than is necessary for victory [Rousseau]
7238 Minorities only accept majority-voting because of a prior unanimous agreement [Rousseau]
7237 The act of becoming 'a people' is the real foundation of society [Rousseau]
19792 To overcome obstacles, people must unite their forces into a single unified power [Rousseau]
7239 The social pact is the total subjection of individuals to the general will [Rousseau]
19793 We need a protective association which unites forces, but retains individual freedom [Rousseau]
19794 If we all give up all of our rights together to the community, we will always support one another [Rousseau]
7240 To foreign powers a state is seen as a simple individual [Rousseau]
19795 The act of association commits citizens to the state, and the state to its citizens [Rousseau]
19796 Individual citizens still retain a private will, which may be contrary to the general will [Rousseau]
19797 Citizens must ultimately for forced to accept the general will (so freedom is compulsory!) [Rousseau]
7241 In society man loses natural liberty, but gains a right to civil liberty and property [Rousseau]
7242 Appetite alone is slavery, and self-prescribed laws are freedom [Rousseau]
19800 The social compact imposes conventional equality of rights on people who may start unequally [Rousseau]
19799 Private property must always be subordinate to ownership by the whole community [Rousseau]
19798 Ancient monarchs were kings of peoples; modern monarchs more cleverly rule a land [Rousseau]
19801 Sovereignty is the exercise of the general will, which can never be delegated [Rousseau]
7243 Silence of the people implies their consent [Rousseau]
7244 The general will is common interest; the will of all is the sum of individual desires [Rousseau]
19802 The general will is always right, but the will of all can err, because it includes private interests [Rousseau]
19803 If the state contains associations there are fewer opinions, undermining the general will [Rousseau]
19804 If a large knowledgeable population votes in isolation, their many choices will have good results [Rousseau]
19808 The general will changes its nature when it focuses on particulars [Rousseau]
19807 Both nature and reason require that everything has a cause [Rousseau]
19805 Just as people control their limbs, the general-will state has total control of its members [Rousseau]
19806 We alienate to society only what society needs - but society judges that, not us [Rousseau]
19809 We accept the death penalty to prevent assassinations, so we must submit to it if necessary [Rousseau]
19810 A trial proves that a criminal has broken the social treaty, and is no longer a member of the state [Rousseau]
19811 Only people who are actually dangerous should be executed, even as an example [Rousseau]
7245 Natural justice, without sanctions, benefits the wicked, who exploit it [Rousseau]
7246 The general will is always good, but sometimes misunderstood [Rousseau]
19812 Human nature changes among a people, into a moral and partial existence [Rousseau]
19814 A state must be big enough to preserve itself, but small enough to be governable [Rousseau]
19815 Too much land is a struggle, producing defensive war; too little makes dependence, and offensive war [Rousseau]
19816 A state's purpose is liberty and equality - liberty for strength, and equality for liberty [Rousseau]
7247 The greatest social good comes down to freedom and equality [Rousseau]
7248 No citizen should be rich enough to buy another, and none so poor as forced to sell himself [Rousseau]
19819 The state ensures liberty, so civil law separates citizens, and binds them to the state [Rousseau]
19817 Citizens should be independent of each other, and very dependent on the state [Rousseau]
19818 Political laws are fundamental, as they firmly organise the state - but they could still be changed [Rousseau]
19822 If the state enlarges, the creators of the general will become less individually powerful [Rousseau]
19823 If the population is larger, the government needs to be more powerful [Rousseau]
19820 The state has a legislature and an executive, just like the will and physical power in a person [Rousseau]
19821 I call the executive power the 'government', which is the 'prince' - a single person, or a group [Rousseau]
19824 Large populations needs stronger control, which means power should be concentrated [Rousseau]
19826 Democracy for small states, aristocracy for intermediate, monarchy for large [Rousseau]
19825 If the sovereign entrusts government to at least half the citizens, that is 'democracy' [Rousseau]
19827 Law makers and law implementers should be separate [Rousseau]
19828 Democracy leads to internal strife, as people struggle to maintain or change ways of ruling [Rousseau]
19829 Natural aristocracy is primitive, and hereditary is dreadful, but elective aristocracy is best [Rousseau]
7249 Natural aristocracy is primitive, hereditary is bad, and elective aristocracy is the best [Rousseau]
19830 Large states need a nobility to fill the gap between a single prince and the people [Rousseau]
19835 When ministers change the state changes, because they always reverse policies [Rousseau]
19832 Democratic elections are dangerous intervals in government [Rousseau]
19831 The highest officers under a monarchy are normally useless; the public could choose much better [Rousseau]
19834 Attempts to train future kings don't usually work, and the best have been unprepared [Rousseau]
19833 Hereditary monarchy is easier, but can lead to dreadful monarchs [Rousseau]
19836 The amount of taxation doesn't matter, if it quickly circulates back to the citizens [Rousseau]
19838 The measure of a successful state is increase in its population [Rousseau]
19837 If inhabitants are widely dispersed, organising a revolt is much more difficult [Rousseau]
19839 The flourishing of arts and letters is too much admired [Rousseau]
7250 Laws are authentic acts of the general will [Rousseau]
19840 A citizen is a subject who is also sovereign [Rousseau]
7251 The English are actually slaves in between elections [Rousseau]
19841 Sometimes full liberty is only possible at the expense of some complete enslavement [Rousseau]
19843 The state is not bound to leave civil authority to its leaders [Rousseau]
19844 Assemblies must always confirm the form of government, and the current administration [Rousseau]
19842 The government is instituted by a law, not by a contract [Rousseau]
19846 The more unanimous the assembly, the stronger the general will becomes [Rousseau]
19847 We can never assume that the son of a slave is a slave [Rousseau]
19848 The sovereignty does not appoint the leaders [Rousseau]
19850 By separating theological and political systems, Jesus caused divisions in the state [Rousseau]
19851 Every society has a religion as its base [Rousseau]
19852 Civil religion needs one supreme god, an afterlife, justice, and the sanctity of the social contract [Rousseau]
19853 All religions should be tolerated, if they tolerate each other, and support citizenship [Rousseau]
19849 In early theocracies the god was the king, and there were as many gods as nations [Rousseau]
7252 A tyrant exploits Christians because they don't value this life, and are made to be slaves [Rousseau]
23607 Wars are between States, not people, and the individuals are enemies by accident [Rousseau]