Social Contract

Running Head : Different Forms of Government

Different Forms of Government and The General Will

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Abstract

The general will is a collection of individual interests that met towards a common direction . This will is usually for the good of all the members of the sovereign . This general will is often treated differently in different types of government : the democratic , the aristocratic , and the monarch

Jean Jacques Rousseau talked about the general will in the Social Contract . This will is simply

a collection of individual will . It focuses more on the concerns and the consensus of the general people According to Rousseau , the general will can run a state alone . However existing in every form of government are different wills of different groups of people . These wills and these groups of people involved distinguish the different forms of government

Rousseau described a democratic government as charges the people with the government . In this type of government , citizens are more involved in how a country is run . Democracy in a country requires for the legislative body of the government to be separated from the executive It also asks for the people to concentrate on the general good rather than the benefit of the few . Rousseu also considered the private interest in public affairs that lead to the abuse of the law as dangers to the country

Aristocracy , on the other hand , confines the government to a few people More citizens are private . In this type of government , there are two groups of people involved : the government and the sovereign . Both of these groups have two wills : one concerns the good of the general and the other concerns only those constituting the administration

Aristocracy can regulate internal policy according to the government 's likings . However , they can never speak of these in the name of the general public who are concerned

Inequality is also dominant in this type of government . Power and riches are concentrated on a few families and the transmission of these riches is families are based on the blood

Rousseau also described aristocracy in three classes . The first is the natural who called only for the simple people hereditary aristocracy is the worst and , the third is elective which brings out the best form of aristocracy

Monarchy , as Rousseu described in the Social Contract , is run by a single person empowered with the executive and legislative powers . This person is called a monarch or a king . This monarch stands for the general public . Hence , the will of the people , the ruler and the state moves only towards a single direction

In this form of government , people are often made to believe that the rulers ' interests concerns prosperous , numerous and formidable lives for the people . Unfortunately , this is not always the case . Kings ' first personal interest involves people to become unable to resist them . The second , on the other hand , dwells mostly to the immediate advantage of the ruler . This type of government is...