The work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau is presented in two volumes, together forming the most comprehensive anthology of Rousseau's political writings in English. Volume II contains the later writings such as the Social Contract.The Social Contract was publicly condemned on publication causing Rousseau to flee. In exile he wrote both autobiographical and political works. This volume contains a comprehensive introduction, chronology and guide to further reading, and will enable students to fully understand the writings of one of the world's greatest thinkers.

The Social Contract & Other Later Political Writings

Each of us puts his person and his full power in common under the supreme direction of the general will  once they no longer are, then regardless of which side one takes there no longer is any freedom." (IV.2.9) Here, Rousseau again escapes into the ether. How is "general will" determined if not by popular vote—by majority vote after the political society is founded? And who gets to determine it? Rousseau does not answer these questions, because they are essentially unanswerable.  James Madison, most famously in    Federalist   No. 10 , taught that  "a pure democracy, by which I mean a society, consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert results from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party, or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is, that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed, that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized, and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions."  Although Madison did not mention Rousseau here, he may have been thinking of  The Social Contract  when he referred to "[t]heoretic politicians." Rousseau strongly supported direct democracy (what Madison called "pure democracy") and strongly opposed any form of representation. Following Montesquieu, he argued that democratic political societies should be small in order to permit direct citizen involvement in all political issues. Citizens should spend their time politicking rather than making money or other pursuits. (III.15)   Madison, in contrast, thought that representation helped temper the momentary and parochial passions of the multitude. In  Federalist   No. 10, he argued that a republic could and should extend over a large territory. A system of representation would help ensure that local majorities would not oppress local minorities. Among the local "factions" listed by Madison was religion. He was well aware of the persecution of religious minorities by local religious majorities; he had personally witnessed and combatted such persecution in Virginia. (Johnson,  First American Founder , 264-79.) In total contrast to Madison, Rousseau wished to enable the politicization of religion. He supported political control of personal morality as well as an official civil religion. (IV.7-8) Rousseau never learned the lessons of separation of church and state and freedom of conscience so ably taught and instituted by Roger Williams in the preceding century. (Johnson,  First American Founder , chaps. 2-8.)  Rousseau advanced a plethora of ideas, good and bad, that this essay has not had occasion to reach. The foregoing discussion should demonstrate, however, that his political principles are inconsistent with the founding principles of the United States and other democratic republics that recognize and honor individual rights.

Books like The Social Contract & Other Later Political Writings

The Social Contract & Other Later Political Writings

Cross-category suggestions