The Social Contract — Outline
Thesis
“But the social order is a sacred right which is the basis of all other rights. Nevertheless, this right does not come from nature, and must therefore be founded on conventions.”
Development
- 1.
Introductory: scope and purpose of the inquiry
Book I — Introduction“I mean to inquire if, in the civil order, there can be any sure and legitimate rule of administration, men being taken as they are and laws as they might be.”
- 2.
Opening problem: freedom versus chains
Book I, Chapter I: SUBJECT OF THE FIRST BOOK“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.”
- 3.
Refutation: natural society and the family model
Book I, Chapter II: THE FIRST SOCIETIES“The family then may be called the first model of political societies: the ruler corresponds to the father, and the people to the children; and all, being born free and equal, alienate their liberty only for their own advantage.”
- 4.
Refutation: force cannot create right
Book I, Chapter III: THE RIGHT OF THE STRONGEST“Let us then admit that force does not create right, and that we are obliged to obey only legitimate powers.”
- 5.
Refutation: slavery cannot be a legitimate convention
Book I, Chapter IV: SLAVERY“To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.”
- 6.
Logical prerequisite: the prior convention that makes a people
Book I, Chapter V: THAT WE MUST ALWAYS GO BACK TO A FIRST CONVENTION“It would be better, before examining the act by which a people gives itself to a king, to examine that by which it has become a people; for this act, being necessarily prior to the other, is the true foundation of society.”
- 7.
Core doctrine: the social compact and its terms
Book I, Chapter VI: THE SOCIAL COMPACT“Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction of the general will, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.”
- 8.
The Sovereign: its nature and limits
Book I, Chapter VII: THE SOVEREIGN“whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be compelled to do so by the whole body. This means nothing less than that he will be forced to be free”
- 9.
Gains of the civil state over the state of nature
Book I, Chapter VIII: THE CIVIL STATE“the mere impulse of appetite is slavery, while obedience to a law which we prescribe to ourselves is liberty.”
- 10.
Real property: its basis in the social compact
Book I, Chapter IX: REAL PROPERTY“instead of destroying natural inequality, the fundamental compact substitutes, for such physical inequality as nature may have set up between men, an equality that is moral and legitimate”
- 11.
Sovereignty is inalienable
Book II, Chapter I: THAT SOVEREIGNTY IS INALIENABLE“Sovereignty, being nothing less than the exercise of the general will, can never be alienated, and that the Sovereign, who is no less than a collective being, cannot be represented except by himself”
- 12.
Sovereignty is indivisible
Book II, Chapter II: THAT SOVEREIGNTY IS INDIVISIBLE“will either is, or is not, general”
- 13.
The general will: infallible in aim, fallible in judgment
Book II, Chapter III: WHETHER THE GENERAL WILL IS FALLIBLE“the people is never corrupted, but it is often deceived, and on such occasions only does it seem to will what is bad.”
- 14.
Limits of sovereign power over individuals
Book II, Chapter IV: THE LIMITS OF THE SOVEREIGN POWER“the social compact sets up among the citizens an equality of such a kind, that they all bind themselves to observe the same conditions and should therefore all enjoy the same rights.”
- 15.
The right of life and death derived from the compact
Book II, Chapter V: THE RIGHT OF LIFE AND DEATH“every malefactor, by attacking social rights, becomes on forfeit a rebel and a traitor to his country”
- 16.
Law: definition and necessity of a legislator
Book II, Chapter VI: LAW“I therefore give the name 'Republic' to every State that is governed by laws, no matter what the form of its administration may be”
- 17.
The legislator: an extraordinary office outside the constitution
Book II, Chapter VII: THE LEGISLATOR“The legislator therefore, being unable to appeal to either force or reason, must have recourse to an authority of a different order capable of constraining without violence and persuading without convincing.”
- 18.
The people: fitness and timing for legislation
Book II, Chapter VIII: THE PEOPLE“Most peoples, like most men, are docile only in youth; as they grow old they become incorrigible.”
- 19.
The people: optimal size of the State
Book II, Chapter IX: THE PEOPLE (continued)“Every extension of the social tie means its relaxation; and, generally speaking, a small State is stronger in proportion than a great one.”
- 20.
The people: right relation of territory to population
Book II, Chapter X: THE PEOPLE (continued)“The men make the State, and the territory sustains the men; the right relation therefore is that the land should suffice for the maintenance of the inhabitants, and that there should be as many inhabitants as the land can maintain.”
- 21.
The two chief objects of legislation: liberty and equality
Book II, Chapter XI: THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF LEGISLATION“If we ask in what precisely consists the greatest good of all, which should be the end of every system of legislation, we shall find it reduce itself to two main objects, liberty and equality”
- 22.
Division of laws: political, civil, criminal, and moral
Book II, Chapter XII: THE DIVISION OF THE LAWS“Along with these three kinds of law goes a fourth, most important of all, which is not graven on tablets of marble or brass, but on the hearts of the citizens.”
- 23.
Transition: introducing government
Book III — Introduction“Before speaking of the different forms of government, let us try to fix the exact sense of the word, which has not yet been very clearly explained.”
- 24.
Government in general: definition and the proportional relation
Book III, Chapter I: GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL“What then is government? An intermediate body set up between the subjects and the Sovereign, to secure their mutual correspondence, charged with the execution of the laws and the maintenance of liberty, both civil and political.”
- 25.
Constituent principle: the inverse relation of magistrates to force
Book III, Chapter II: THE CONSTITUENT PRINCIPLE IN THE VARIOUS FORMS OF GOVERNMENT“the art of the legislator is to know how to fix the point at which the force and the will of the government, which are always in inverse proportion, meet in the relation that is most to the advantage of the State.”
- 26.
Division of governments: democracy, aristocracy, monarchy
Book III, Chapter III: THE DIVISION OF GOVERNMENTS“democratic government suits small States, aristocratic government those of middle size, and monarchy great ones.”
- 27.
Democracy: its conditions and inherent impossibility
Book III, Chapter IV: DEMOCRACY“If we take the term in the strict sense, there never has been a real democracy, and there never will be. It is against the natural order for the many to govern and the few to be governed.”
- 28.
Aristocracy: its three forms and the best
Book III, Chapter V: ARISTOCRACY“The first is only for simple peoples; the third is the worst of all governments; the second is the best, and is aristocracy properly so called.”
- 29.
Monarchy: its vigour and its essential defects
Book III, Chapter VI: MONARCHY“Kings desire to be absolute, and men are always crying out to them from afar that the best means of being so is to get themselves loved by their people.”
- 30.
Mixed governments: simple versus divided executive
Book III, Chapter VII: MIXED GOVERNMENTS“Simple government is better in itself, just because it is simple.”
- 31.
Climate and form of government: natural correspondence
Book III, Chapter VIII: THAT ALL FORMS OF GOVERNMENT DO NOT SUIT ALL COUNTRIES“Liberty not being a fruit of all climates, is not within the reach of all peoples.”
- 32.
Mark of good government: population growth
Book III, Chapter IX: THE MARKS OF A GOOD GOVERNMENT“the government under which, without external aids, without naturalisation or colonies, the citizens increase and multiply most, is beyond question the best.”
- 33.
Abuse of government: its tendency to degenerate
Book III, Chapter X: THE ABUSE OF GOVERNMENT AND ITS TENDENCY TO DEGENERATE“There are two general courses by which government degenerates: i.e. when it undergoes contraction, or when the State is dissolved.”
- 34.
Death of the body politic: inevitable but deferrable
Book III, Chapter XI: THE DEATH OF THE BODY POLITIC“The legislative power is the heart of the State; the executive power is its brain, which causes the movement of all the parts.”
- 35.
Maintaining sovereign authority: the necessity of assemblies
Book III, Chapter XII: HOW THE SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY MAINTAINS ITSELF“the Sovereign cannot act save when the people is assembled.”
- 36.
Periodical assemblies: their necessity and indivisibility of sovereignty
Book III, Chapter XIII: THE SAME (continued)“the union of several towns in a single city is always bad, and that, if we wish to make such a union, we should not expect to avoid its natural disadvantages.”
- 37.
Suspension of government when the people assembles
Book III, Chapter XIV: THE SAME (continued)“The moment the people is legitimately assembled as a sovereign body, the jurisdiction of the government wholly lapses, the executive power is suspended”
- 38.
Deputies and representation: a modern corruption of sovereignty
Book III, Chapter XV: DEPUTIES OR REPRESENTATIVES“The deputies of the people, therefore, are not and cannot be its representatives: they are merely its stewards, and can carry through no definitive acts.”
- 39.
Institution of government is not a contract but a law
Book III, Chapter XVI: THAT THE INSTITUTION OF GOVERNMENT IS NOT A CONTRACT“There is only one contract in the State, and that is the act of association, which in itself excludes the existence of a second.”
- 40.
How government is legitimately instituted
Book III, Chapter XVII: THE INSTITUTION OF GOVERNMENT“this is accomplished by a sudden conversion of Sovereignty into democracy, so that, without sensible change, and merely by virtue of a new relation of all to all, the citizens become magistrates”
- 41.
Checking usurpations: periodical votes on government
Book III, Chapter XVIII: HOW TO CHECK THE USURPATIONS OF GOVERNMENT“The opening of these assemblies, whose sole object is the maintenance of the social treaty, should always take the form of putting two propositions that may not be suppressed”
- 42.
The general will is indestructible
Book IV, Chapter I: THAT THE GENERAL WILL IS INDESTRUCTIBLE“it is always constant, unalterable and pure; but it is subordinated to other wills which encroach upon its sphere.”
- 43.
Voting: unanimity, majority, and the general will
Book IV, Chapter II: VOTING“The more concert reigns in the assemblies, that is, the nearer opinion approaches unanimity, the greater is the dominance of the general will.”
- 44.
Elections: choice versus lot in different governments
Book IV, Chapter III: ELECTIONS“When choice and lot are combined, positions that require special talents, such as military posts, should be filled by the former; the latter does for cases, such as judicial offices, in which good sense, justice, and integrity are enough”
- 45.
The Roman comitia: historical illustration of popular sovereignty
Book IV, Chapter IV: THE ROMAN COMITIA“the whole Roman people, which was then contained within the walls, consisted of thirty curia, each with its temples, its gods, its officers, its priests and its festivals, which were called compitalia and corresponded to the paganalia, held in later times by the rural tribes.”
- 46.
The tribunate: a balancing magistracy outside the constitution
Book IV, Chapter V: THE TRIBUNATE“The tribunate is not a constituent part of the city, and should have no share in either legislative or executive power; but this very fact makes its own power the greater: for, while it can do nothing, it can prevent anything from being done.”
- 47.
The dictatorship: suspension of law in extreme crisis
Book IV, Chapter VI: THE DICTATORSHIP“He can do anything, except make laws.”
- 48.
The censorship: guardian of public opinion and morality
Book IV, Chapter VII: THE CENSORSHIP“the censorship may be useful for the preservation of morality, but can never be so for its restoration.”
- 49.
Civil religion: its necessity and its proper dogmas
Book IV, Chapter VIII: CIVIL RELIGION“There is therefore a purely civil profession of faith of which the Sovereign should fix the articles, not exactly as religious dogmas, but as social sentiments without which a man cannot be a good citizen or a faithful subject.”
- 50.
Conclusion: limits of the present work
Book IV, Chapter IX: CONCLUSION“Now that I have laid down the true principles of political right, and tried to give the State a basis of its own to rest on, I ought next to strengthen it by its external relations”
Conclusion
“I ought throughout to have kept to a more limited sphere.”