05 Rousseau and Popular Sovereignty Free Online FlashCards

For Rousseau, who holds legitimate political authority?

Legitimate political authority belongs to the people as a whole, not to a monarch or ruler.

How does Rousseau’s social contract form a political community?

Each person joins with everyone else and places themselves and their powers under the direction of the community as a whole.

What two political roles do people hold in Rousseau’s community?

They are citizens who make laws and subjects who obey them.

What is natural liberty?

Natural liberty is the freedom to pursue one’s desires within one’s physical power.

What replaces unbounded natural liberty in civil society?

Civil liberty is freedom within civil society, protected by common laws.

What is moral liberty for Rousseau?

Moral liberty is the capacity to act according to rules people prescribe to themselves as citizens.

What does Rousseau mean by the general will?

The general will is the citizen body’s will directed toward the common good.

How does the will of all differ from the general will?

The will of all is the sum of individuals’ private preferences, unlike the general will’s focus on the common good.

Does a majority vote automatically express the general will?

A majority vote can help identify the general will, but a majority decision is not automatically just or directed toward the common good.

What makes a law fit Rousseau’s account of the general will?

Laws express the general will when they establish rules that apply generally to citizens, rather than targeting particular people.

What is popular sovereignty in Rousseau’s theory?

Popular sovereignty means ultimate lawmaking authority rests with the people collectively; Rousseau argues that sovereignty cannot be transferred or divided.

What is the government’s role under popular sovereignty?

Government administers public affairs and carries out the people’s laws; it is an agent, not the sovereign source of legitimate law.