The theory of the social contract is a political theory that explains the origin and purpose of the State, as well as Human Rights. According to this theory, individuals, who are in a natural state of freedom and equality, decide to give up part of their individual freedom to form an organized civil society, the State.
While secretary of the ambassador in Venice, Rousseau wrote what the author titled “the social contract”, in which he establishes the possibility of a reconciliation between nature and culture: Man can live in freedom in an egalitarian society, but to do so Human beings agree to a contract, which grants them certain rights in exchange for abandoning the state of absolute freedom that they would have in nature, the rights and duties of individuals being the clauses of the so-called social contract, the state being the entity created to enforce the contract.
In this way there will be no member of society over whom the same right that is transferred is not acquired, the contract being an expression of the general will, always fair and safeguarding the common interest of society , which legitimizes the authority of the state.
With the exercise of the general will, sovereignty will reside in the people, being absolute as it does not depend on any other political authority, limited by itself, and indivisible as it belongs to the entire community.
The people, being participants in sovereignty, are also subjects and therefore must submit to the laws of the State, which the people themselves have given themselves. In this way, Rousseau establishes the way in which man loses his natural freedom to opt for civil freedom, dependent on the general will of a society that is imposed on him, his natural equality being replaced by moral equality.
he Defines the government as the intermediate body between subjects and sovereigns for their mutual communication, which is responsible for the execution of laws and the maintenance of civil liberties that guarantee moral equality.
The social contract is presented as a political theory that explains the origin and purpose of the State, with Rousseau being one of its main formulators, whose ideas served as the impetus for the French Revolution of 1789.
The social contract is a political manifesto, which shows that all people have a natural dignity that grants them the right to self-determination and equality, referring to the latter term, equal opportunities to realize their vital development. .
The social contract, in short, is an agreement between the members of society, by which everyone gives up part of their individual freedom in exchange for the protection of their natural rights, such as life, freedom and property, the State being the institution that is responsible for guaranteeing these rights, through law and coercive power.
However, in the social contract, the individual citizen is sovereign and a servant subject to the will of the sovereign, and must therefore provide the services that the sovereign demands of him, and must in turn ensure that as sovereign he will not impose demands on citizens that harm him. to the community, guaranteeing the application of norms in accordance with nature and reason.
Based on the previous premise, it establishes a just form of government, arising from the will of the citizens, who jointly cede to the State the sufficient and necessary power to regulate the laws and enforce them. This way of thinking completely contradicted the definition of the state collected by absolutism, in which power was governed by existing monarchies.
Rousseau recommended in his work, including the regulation of the protective power of the state, and the obligation of defense of the same on the part of the citizen, arguing that he who can and wants to preserve his life at the expense of others, must also want to give it for others. if necessary, instilling in the individual the obligation to return to the state the security that he claims for his protection.
The social contract establishes the final objective of the State, as the obligation to improve the well-being of all members of society, thus establishing that the function of the legislator and the function of enforcing the law are separate, being incompatible functions that cannot be centralized in the same person.
With all the above and despite Rousseau’s formulation being the one that has had the greatest influence in the history of political thought, the truth is that this theory was developed by various political philosophers.
Thus, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was the first to develop a theory of the social contract. In his work “The Leviathan” (1651), Hobbes argues that the natural state of human beings is a state of war of all against all, in which life is “solitary, poor, unpleasant, brutal and short.” To escape this state of nature, individuals decide to give up their natural freedom and establish a government that guarantees peace and security.
John Locke (1632-1694), for his part, also defended the theory of the social contract, but with some important differences with respect to Hobbes. In his work “Two Treatises Concerning Civil Government” (1690), Locke maintains that human beings, in the state of nature, are free and equal, and have certain natural rights, such as life, liberty, and property. To protect these rights, individuals decide to establish a government, but the government only has the power that individuals have delegated to it.
The theory of the social contract has had a great influence on the history of political thought. It has been used to justify the French Revolution, the Independence of the United States and other liberal revolutions, as well as to defend human rights and democracy.
The theory of the social contract explains the origin of the State, as an agreement between individuals to form an organized civil society, bases human rights as natural rights of individuals and defends democracy as the most appropriate form of government to guarantee human rights. .
