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But even if this were true, running a direct democracy on this principle would be hopelessly impractical. The term “general will” seemingly implies that there is an interest common to all persons involved. His work is particularly vulnerable in three essential areas: the formulation of the “general will,” the subordination of individual rights, and the validity of the “social contract” concept. This ambiguity is rather symptomatic of the contradictions underlying Rousseau’s entire essay. “The Social Contract” has been used by both democrats and totalitarians to support their respective positions. Rousseau justifies this strange synthesis of communism and direct democracy by arguing that the abrogation of individual rights would abolish special privileges, and that tyranny would be impossible because the People would never oppress themselves. A seemingly rational and practical concept in its general form, the social contract theory began to lose its luster as its proponents clashed over what form the State should take and what rights, if any, the individual should retain.ĭuring this period of intense conflict, French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau produced a seminal work entitled “The Social Contract.” In it Rousseau proposes a visionary society in which all rights and property would be vested in the State, which would be under the direct control of “the People.” Large meetings of the public would be held in order to determine the collective interest as perceived by the “general will” this the State would then dutifully enforce. This quest reached a climax during the Enlightenment when philosophers and political scientists rejoiced over the discovery of a new model depicting the relationship between the individual and the State: the social contract.Īccording to the theory of the social contract, individuals may leave an anarchic “state of nature” by voluntarily transferring some of their personal rights to the “community” in return for security of life and property. Political theorists have long attempted to find a plausible rationale for the existence of the coercive State. Bobby Taylor is a senior at Sullivan South High School in Kingsport, Tennessee.