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Book 2, Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Social Contract, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Human Freedom and Society
Sovereignty, Citizenship, and Direct Democracy
Government and the Separation of Powers
National Longevity and Moral Virtue
Summary
Analysis
Only the sovereign’s general will can create valid laws, so any will that is divided, or only the will “of a part” of the people, is not truly sovereign. It is true that many governments are divided among different branches, agencies, and jurisdictions, but this is a division of the rights and powers to implement the sovereign will, and not of sovereignty itself. Unfortunately, many legal thinkers—like Grotius and his translator, who were both power-hungry and dedicated their works to the kings they were flattering—misunderstand what sovereignty really is, so they get this confused.
Rousseau applies the same principle as the previous section: there is no way to deduce the general will without including the interests of all the people. Notably, this does not mean that Rousseau believes decisions have to be unanimous: as he later argues, people can be wrong about what their own will demands, and so “a part” of the people can represent the will of the whole people (and vice versa). What is important is not who votes for a decision, but whether that decision serves everyone or just a certain part of society. Rousseau also differentiates divided agencies in the state from political divisions within the sovereign—or, in modern parlance, political parties. He considers the former necessary to implement the laws, but the latter dangerous because political parties are likely to lead to part of the population’s interests getting discounted (and the will of the sovereign not being truly general).
Themes
