Theory Of Rousseau’s People’s Sovereignty Thought

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is the famous philosopher, political thinker, educator in eighteenth century, as well as the most influential person in the worldwide French Enlightenment Movement and his thought once commanded the French Revolution. Rousseau made breakthroughs in politics, philosophy, educating, among which his achievements in the field of politics are the most stunning ones. The people’s sovereignty thinking is considered as the core among all the politics theories Rousseau proposed, and it was affected by many political thinkers, philosophers and based on the natural state, natural rights theory as well as the unique background. Thoughts on sovereignty and general will are treated as the basses of the people’s sovereignty thinking; meanwhile freedom and equality are regarded as the core of the people’s sovereignty thinking that is aimed at establishing a democratic republic where people actually own the sovereignty.Firstly, by using analyzing and comparing methods, through analyzing and reordering the massive related articles, the introduction about Rousseau is described. Then the author compares Geneva where Rousseau was born and French where he was lived both in political system and social circumstance perspective, eventually showed the social situation where the theory was promoted to born. After describes the sovereignty theories of Bodin, Hobbes, Locke, the author pointed the inner relationships between these theories and the people’s sovereignty thinking. Secondly, by discussing the social contract and general will theory, the essential characters of the people’s sovereignty thinking have been clarified, for example, it cannot be transferred, represented, and it is always correct and unalienable. And the main contents of the thinking including legislative power owned by people, government elected and supervised by people have been detailed discussed, either. In the end of the essay, towards the contribution and influence of this thinking, the author compares different ideas of various thinkers in two levels, which are theoretical level and practical level, from multiple perspectives such as western society, modern China, and eventually build up a vivid, multi-dimensional image of the people’s sovereignty thinking.The limits of the previous research lie in misunderstanding and the limitations caused by ideology. Even though, this thinking can be regarded as a political theory representing the benefits of the bourgeoisie, with totalitarian and authoritarian tendencies, it cannot be denied that it is also a democratic theory with a spirit of liberty and a strong spirit against the feudal autocracy. The spirit of’equality and liberty’ has far-reaching impacts on the French Revolution, the development both on political theory and society in western countries, as well as the building of a democratic system. This spirit also profoundly influenced the Reform Movement, the Revolution of 1911 and the New Culture Movement, which both happened in modern China. Thus the people’s sovereignty thought should be valued as one of the most precious spiritual wealth.