ABSTRACT
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. How did this change take place? I do not know.
INTRODUCTION
The famous opening passage in Rousseau’s Social Contract is implicitly asking both why man is governed, and whether his subjection to government is legitimate. Social contract theory has since developed a fairly coherent answer. Its premise is that there are benefits-of which civil order is the arch-example-which men can enjoy without making a contribution to their production. Since under these circumstances no one has an incentive to contribute, no benefit could be produced unless the necessary contributions were extracted by the threat of superior force. However, if all would rather contribute and benefit-for example, maintain order by obeying the rules and pay to help make everybody else obey them —than not contribute and have disorder, then submission by all to the threat of force is morally equivalent to unforced, free choice. No matter how and why it took place in actual fact, submission is legitimate because it would have been rational to arrange it by voluntary contract.
