The Nature And The Foundations Of The Government-an Interpretation Of Rousseau's Political Economy

This thesis aims at interpreting Rousseau's Political Economy. Its interpretation is conducted from the perspective of equality and takes as background the historical development of political economy from ancient Greek idea of oikia(literally, science of household or husbandry) to the modern time when the Political Economy was written. Its analysis focuses on Rousseau's idea of the nature and foundations of the government.In the first part, historical development from oikia(science of husbandry) to political economy is considered as the background that gave birth to the Political Economy and had provided theoretical foundation for Rousseau's theory of government. At the time when the Political Economy was written industrial sector and commerce had rapidly developed and the bourgeoisie had gradually become a powerful force in the society. As economic base determined superstructure, the bourgeoisie not only started to take action to struggle against the oppression by the feudal monarchs but also actively sought for a better position in the political and social realms. In order to achieve this goal the bourgeoisie had developed the idea of equality among men as a theoretical weapon.The second part is about how Rousseau distinguishes the concept of “state” from the concept of the “family” based on the idea of equality and argues that Robert Filmer's theory that patriarchal power is the basis of monarchical power is untenable. For Rousseau man makes contract with each other and thus becomes the “holder” of the state and the state powers. The state is formed on the contractual basis of natural equality, and the government is subordinated to both the state and the people. The later executes the wills of the state and the people. Thus the government is by nature the government of the people.The third part introduces Rousseau's ideas of the foundations that enable the government to persist—general will, laws, and virtue.First, the primary foundation of the government is the obedience to the general will. The people are the sovereign. For the government the people's voice is like the voice of the God. The general will is formulated by all the people. It is subordinated to the well-being of the people. Therefore, it is always correct and supreme. By doing so Rousseau has wisely combined freedom with people's obedience to the state(government), destroyed the theoretical foundation of monarchical sovereignty and explicated his theory of popular sovereignty. Second, based on the idea that the primary foundation of the government is the obedience to the general will, Rousseau argues for the second foundation of the government—the law. There are two reasons to make law as the government's foundation. The first reason is that the general will has to be represented, and law is the instrument that represents the people's will. Law is the form of representation of the general will. The second reason is that by understanding that law takes the general will, law is thus able to resolve the conflict between freedom of the community's members and the authority of the government. Finally, civic virtue is the third foundation that enables the government to persist. It also guarantees the realization of the two foundations of the government, namely, the general will of the political community and the law. In order to achieve realize genuine general will and to prevent some people from damaging the law with the pretext of promoting the law, every citizen has to show concern about the general will and love his country and the law.The fourth part is about how the government's taxing power is supposed to be exercised under the precondition that private property should not be encroached and taxation can help promote people's interest. There are two conditions which the government has to meet in its taxation and financial management systems. First, anything done by the government has to be in conformity with the general will and the law. Second, concerned positions in the administration should be filled with people with virtue. Thus, one can see how Rousseau's design of taxation system is an elaboration of his understanding of the government's nature and its moral foundation.Rousseau's ideas of the nature of the government and its foundations are provocative and significant. They have incorporated the Enlightenment's ideas of equality, freedom and democracy and creatively argued that government can only be government of the people and general will, law and virtue are its foundations. Rousseau's ideas have significant influence on the historical development of democratization in Europe. They are also significant in terms of theory and practices with regard to modern democracy.