Suppose we draw up a balance sheet, so that the losses and gains may be readily compared.

In this case, Rousseau argues, such people are paradoxically “forced to be free” by the state. This does not violate their freedom, because their freedom is based precisely on the general will.

For example, the state can force people to pay taxes or even send them to war if it is necessary for the nation’s preservation. In turn, Rousseau argues, the state has a right to force people to comply with the general will and fulfill their duties as citizens, even when they disagree with the general will. If they fail and stop following the general will, their nation stops functioning and is no longer legitimate. This participation requires people to choose the general will, which is “always rightful” because it “always tends to the public good,” over their own personal interests and desires. Indeed, the general will comes from the original social contract, in which people decide to think of themselves as a coherent whole (a nation or body politic) and then give up their “natural freedom” in exchange for “civil freedom,” or the right to participate in collective decision-making. Because the sovereign simply consists of the people, Rousseau continues, legislation really consists of a people collectively choosing to do what is in their collective best interests, which means that they preserve their freedom through society (rather than sacrificing it to the state, as thinkers like Hobbes and Grotius suggest). Rousseau emphasizes that this public good is about what people share in common, and not simply “the sum of individual desires,” because one individual may desire something that is harmful to another individual (and therefore not beneficial for the citizenry as a whole). Rousseau argues that a state is only legitimate if it follows the general will-or, more specifically, if its sovereign (legislative) power is guided by the general will when it formulates the nation’s laws-that is, if it creates the policies that are in the public good. General will is a complicated but very important concept that essentially refers to a society’s capacity to pursue the goals that are in its citizens’ common interests.

Jean rousseau the social contract