Summary
Book I: forming a legitimate political community
Rousseau begins from the contrast between natural freedom and social subjection. Force does not create right, slavery cannot be founded upon valid agreement and conquest gives no legitimate authority. The problem is to find an association that protects each member while allowing everyone to remain as free as before.
The social pact is reciprocal: each person gives himself wholly to the community under conditions shared by all. This creates the sovereign people and transforms isolated individuals into citizens. Anyone who enjoys the protection of the community while rejecting the general will undermines the agreement that makes civic freedom possible.
Entry into civil society replaces instinct with justice and gives actions a moral character. People gain civil and moral liberty while accepting lawful limits. Possession becomes property through public recognition, subject to conditions such as first occupancy, need and labour.
Book II: sovereignty, law and legislation
Sovereignty is the exercise of the general will. It cannot be alienated, divided or represented. Particular commands are not sovereign acts because law must arise from the whole and address citizens generally.
The general will aims at common interest but public deliberation can be distorted by factions and inadequate information. The death penalty is discussed through the social pact and defence of the community. Rousseau rejects any natural right to punish merely for vengeance.
A legislator designs institutions but cannot personally give laws sovereign force. Constitutions must suit the size, resources, customs and maturity of a people. Liberty and equality are the general ends of legislation, though their practical form differs among societies.
Book III: government and its forms
Government mediates between sovereign law and individual subjects. It administers laws through magistrates and possesses a corporate will that may conflict with the people. Its appropriate strength varies with the size and circumstances of the state.
Democracy, aristocracy and monarchy describe different locations of executive power. Pure democracy demands exceptional civic conditions; elective aristocracy may combine experience with accountability; monarchy concentrates vigour but risks substituting personal interest for public good. Mixed arrangements arise from practical needs.
There is no universal test of good government, though population and flourishing provide evidence. Political bodies tend towards decline as government usurps sovereignty or fractures. The social pact is sustained through recurring assemblies where citizens can judge both the maintenance of the sovereign and the continuation of existing officials.
Deputies cannot replace the sovereign will. Representation may serve administration, but laws require citizens’ own participation. Rousseau examines how government is instituted without allowing executive officials to become sovereign.
Book IV: maintaining sovereignty
Where citizens share a common interest, decisions can approach unanimity; as private interests strengthen, agreement declines. Majority voting is legitimate only within the prior convention of association and must be interpreted according to the question’s importance.
Rousseau examines Roman assemblies, offices and voting arrangements to show how institutional forms shape citizenship. Tribunes protect constitutional balance without exercising ordinary legislative or executive power. Dictatorship may temporarily suspend normal operation during genuine emergency but must be strictly limited.
Censorship declares rather than creates public opinion and cannot restore morals after law and civic character have collapsed. Civil religion supplies simple beliefs supporting social duties while rejecting priestly power and intolerance. Rousseau concludes by indicating that international relations would require a separate work.