Rousseau and the Sovereign

The idea that “Man is born free but everywhere he is chains” enforces Rousseau’s idea that the state represses the freedom of its subjects. He suggests that political authority ought to come through a social contract agreed upon by all members of a state for their mutual interests. He refers to this collective conscious of all citizens as the “sovereign”. This sovereign will then aim to appeal to the general will of the masses. Anyone who is to breach this social contract, according to Rousseau, should be penalised with death itself. Rousseau suggests that a state is also in need of a government, of which a “monarchy” is the strongest form and is most suitable for a population of substantial size. The natural friction that exists between the sovereign and the government will come to eventually destroy the state, but Rousseau argues that this process can take centuries. To exercise sovereignty, there must be regular assemblies within which all citizens must vote, so that a collective will can be exercised.