Study On The Political Legitimacy Idea Of Rousseau

Since human beings entered the political society,political legitimacy has become an unavoidable core problem,and the consistent research and exploration on it has never stopped.One of the most important enlightenment thinker in 18~th century's France,Rousseau raised the concept of“legitimacy”for the first time and brought it into the area of political research.This concept has a pioneering significance impact on the formation and development of political legitimacy theory.This article arranged the ideas of Rousseau's political legitimacy in a systematic way.Rousseau set nature state as his logical starting point,his unique nature state theory formed by succeeding and criticizing theories of Hobbes and Locke,which claimed to build a nature state-like social structure in social state in order to guarantee the realization of human's liberty and equality.Followed this logical deduction route,Rousseau believed that social contract is the source of political legitimacy.People should follow the principle of social contract to form a political community,then realize social liberty.Public will is the foundation of political legitimacy,people formed a moral community by the guidance of public will and realized moral liberty.Popular sovereign is the guarantee of political legitimacy,and also the expression and utilization of public will.Only if persisted in popular sovereign,liberty,equality and democracy can be realized,and political legitimacy can be practiced.During the arrangement of Rousseau's political legitimacy,this article believes that the idea of Rousseau's political legitimacy has three different paradoxes between nature state and social state,individual will and public will,popular sovereign and government representation in three levels:moral and politic,individual and collective,ideal and reality.These three different paradoxes in three levels affected the transformation of Rousseau's political legitimacy idea from form to substance.Although,Rousseau's idea of political legitimacy still has a very important value implication.From historical perspective,this idea led the opening and development of France Revolution,though the practical path of Robespierre ended failure,the bright light of enlightenment of Rousseau's idea itself can not be covered.From theoretical perspective,Rousseau's idea enriched patternalism political legitimacy theory,and laid a strong foundation for the theorization and systematization of political legitimacy.