The Social Contract

Review
Great Ideas... is the right name for these slim, elegant paperbacks... They are written with precision, force, and care. (The Wall Street Journal) Penguin Books hopes to provide an economical remedy for time-pressed readers in search of intellectual sustenance. (USA Today)
Product Description
This is an electronic edition of the complete book complemented by author biography. This book features the table of contents linked to every book, chapter and footnote. The book was designed for optimal navigation on Android.

****************** Translated by George Douglas Howard Cole The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is the book in which Rousseau theorized about social contracts as the origins of political community i.e. civil society. Like John Locke, who believed that a government can only be legitimate if it has been sanctioned by the people in the role of the sovereign, Rousseau claimed that a perfect society would be controlled by the "general will" of its populace. While he does not define exactly how this should be accomplished (as there are many possible ways, each suited to different situations), he suggests that assemblies be held in which every citizen can assist in determining the general will. Without this input from the people, there can be no legitimate government. Importantly, this input cannot come from representatives, but must be from the people themselves.
— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.