The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (237 page)

(1712–78)
Moral, political and educational philosopher, novelist, composer, musicologist, and botanist. Not French, but born in Geneva, a French-speaking city state of the Swiss confederation. Although his family was relatively poor, Rousseau was by birth a member of the citizen class, the highest in Geneva, and one of the only two classes out of five with political rights. They made up only a small percentage of the population. Rousseau left Geneva at eighteen with nothing, to make his fortune. He rejected Calvinism, especially the central place it gave to original sin, and became a Roman Catholic. Although readmitted to Protestantism in 1754, he increasingly rejected all formal religion. He educated himself, becoming familiar with, among others, the ideas of
Plato
, the modern
natural law
school, and the
Enlightenment
. In 1749, inspired by the title set by the Academy of Dijon for an essay competition, Rousseau wrote his
Discourse on the Sciences and Arts
, and was awarded first prize. Published in 1750, this established his reputation as a writer. He wrote the
Discourse on Inequality
in 1755, again for the Academy of Dijon, but did not win. In both discourses, Rousseau contrasted the simplicity and innocence of solitary man in a
state
of nature, living in terms of his own being, with the dishonesty of man in society who sees himself, and hence lives, only in terms of the opinions of others. Sciences and arts, on the one hand, and inequality on the other, are manifestations of this corruption. In between the state of nature and corrupt society, he puts (but only in one paragraph) the primitive family which is so small that no dishonesty can exist between its members, and which therefore provides a context for morality.
In 1762, he published both
Emile
, his tract on education, and
The Social Contract
, his most important work of political philosophy. Society is based upon a contract, but in contrast to other
social contract
thinkers, Rousseau refuses to allow originally independent individuals to give to a government their capacity for will—it is inalienable. Rousseau therefore separates sovereignty—the legislative function—from government—the executive function—and makes the second the servant of the first.
The only legitimate form of sovereignty is a direct democracy in which all citizens have the right to participate in making the law. This solves to Rousseau's satisfaction the paradox of leaving each associate as free as before after joining a society. It depends upon his commitment to the ancient idea of liberty as participation instead of the modern one as a sphere of life free from social interference. The way to achieve ancient liberty is the
general will
. This is the will of each individual in favour of the good of the whole community, and is superior to his own particular interest. This is based on the idea of a separation between real and apparent interests in which the realization of the latter would destroy the former, and the individual would lose the chance of achieving liberty in the ancient sense. In this process, he may lose liberty in the modern sense, and this contrast lies behind Rousseau's paradoxical assertion that if anyone refuses to accept the general will, then he must be forced to be free. To ensure that the citizen body would come as close as possible to the ideal of voting laws unanimously, Rousseau relies upon the establishment of moral harmony between citizens. This must be a result of deliberate policy, but can only be achieved in a small and isolated society. There is some tension between Rousseau's view of the need for a tightly knit and artificial orthodoxy in society, and his view of education in
Emile
which relies largely on the effects of the individual pupil's natural contact with the world of things.
In practice, Rousseau recognizes that even the smallest possible society capable of independence could not give political rights to everyone. His models for legitimate society were some of the city-states of ancient Greece, republican Rome, and Geneva, which in different ways embodied the equality of citizens but inequality between them and the rest of the population. Rousseau rejected the possibility of applying his ideal to a large modern society, although in 1772 he wrote by invitation a constitution for Poland which was under threat of what became the First Partition by Prussia, Austria, and Russia. His plan involved taking account of Polish tradition, and attempting to turn it into a genuine national consciousness by educating the Polish equivalent of the citizen class in a city-state. At the same time, in order to approach as closely as possible the conditions for realizing the general will in a small state, Rousseau proposed to grant a large degree of self-government to each of thirty-three provinces which would be created, and connected by federal arrangements. Rousseau's overall significance was to provide an alternative to Enlightenment optimism, which has sometimes led to him being seen as connected with
Romanticism
, and to emphasize the part played by feeling instead of reason in human motivation.
CS 

 
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In the United Kingdom, royal commissions are committees of inquiry established by royal charter or warrant at the behest of the cabinet to look into issues of considerable public importance. Their membership and precise terms of interest will be set by a member of the cabinet, but it is then intended that their collection of evidence, deliberations, and submission of a report to the cabinet are carried out independently. Royal commissions have at least an educative impact, and may contribute policy proposals which are taken up by the cabinet. At worst they are used as vehicles by the cabinet for diffusing political problems, or are overtaken by the need to respond to events more rapidly. They fell out of favour after 1979. The idea has been adopted by many Commonwealth countries.
JBr 

 
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See
prerogative
.

 
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See
utilitarianism
.

 
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