jean jacques rousseau's the social contract

The great difficulty of forming a body of government lies in ordering this subaltern whole within the whole in such a manner that the general constitution may not be altered by giving too much strength to this part that the particular force necessary for preserving itself may be kept distinct from the public force which is necessary to preserve the State and, in fine, that on every occasion the government may be sacrificed to the people, and not the people to the government. ‘The Social Contract’ was written in 1762 by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau argues instead for a pact, or social contract, that should exist between all the citizens of a state. Rousseau's object, then, in the first words of the Social Contract, 'is to inquire if, in the civil order, there can be any sure and certain, rule of administration, taking men as they are and laws as they might be.' Montesquieu took laws as they were, and saw what sort of men they made: Rousseau, founding his whole system on human freedom. This distinct existence supposes assemblies and councils, a power to deliberate and resolve, rights, titles, and privileges which belong to the prince alone, and which render the situation of a magistrate more honourable in proportion as it is more laborious. The work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau is presented in two volumes, together forming the most comprehensive anthology of Rousseaus political writings in English. These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has not ceased to stir vigorous debate since its first publication in 1762. It is, however, necessary that the government should so far have a real existence and life as to be distinguishable from the body of the State in order that all its members should be able to act in concert and work for the end for which it was instituted, it must have a particular self, a sensibility common to its members, and a force and will sufficient for its preservation.

Jean jacques rousseau's the social contract