ABSTRACT
According to Jean-Jacques Rousseau,4 the citizen enters into a ‘contract’ with the state, surrendering to the state individual rights in exchange for the protection of the state. The state, according to Rousseau, is thus embodied in the ‘general will’ of the people and becomes both the agent and ruler of the people in the peoples’ name. Rousseau’s vision of man differs markedly from that of Thomas Hobbes – far from living in a state of ‘war’ with one another, men in the ‘natural state’ of primitive society would have nothing to fight over and would be united in a community of endeavour to secure the essential provisions of life. Man comes together – from necessity – within civil society, and, through participation in the decision making processes, produces a democratic society. Rousseau distinguishes between supreme power – sovereignty – and the government. Sovereignty lies with the people, and is absolute and inalienable. The government’s power is less absolute, established to implement the will of the people and accountable to the people. The government is dependent upon the sovereign people for the continuation of its power, and the people retain the right to revoke the power devolved.
