The Social Contract · Chapter
XVII: The Institution of Government explained
Rousseau explains that the institution of government is a complex act composed of two parts: the establishment of a law by the Sovereign decreeing a governing body, and the nomination of rulers by the people.
What happens
Rousseau explains that the institution of government is a complex act composed of two parts: the establishment of a law by the Sovereign decreeing a governing body, and the nomination of rulers by the people. He resolves the apparent contradiction of a governmental act before government exists by describing a sudden conversion of Sovereignty into democracy, where citizens become magistrates and pass from general to particular acts. This is illustrated by the English Parliament's practice of resolving into a Grand Committee.
Themes in this chapter
Sovereignty and Government
The chapter details the complex act of instituting government, distinguishing between the Sovereign's law and the people's nomination of rulers.
The General Will
The general will is invoked as the means by which democratic government can be established in actuality.
Characters to notice
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Author and narrator, presenting the theory of government institution.
Key passages
“Under what general idea then should the act by which government is instituted be conceived as falling? I will begin by stating that the act is complex, as being composed of two others—the establishment of the law and its execution.”
The act of instituting government is complex, consisting of two parts: making the law and carrying it out.
Rousseau introduces the dual nature of the governmental institution.
“It is at this point that there is revealed one of the astonishing properties of the body politic, by means of which it reconciles apparently contradictory operations; for 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 and pass from general to particular acts, from legislation to the execution of the law.”
The body politic has an astonishing property that resolves contradictions: a sudden conversion of Sovereignty into democracy, where citizens become magistrates and shift from general to particular actions.
Rousseau explains how the transition from sovereign to magistrate occurs without visible change.