Popular Sovereignty vs. "The Emperor is the State": Interpreting Rousseau's The Social Contract

Author: Li Ping Ou
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-09-01
Features: The absolute monarch of France, Louis XIV, said "L'état, c'est moi" (I am the state), while the people who believed in Rousseau's doctrine said "We are the state." Sovereignty belongs to the people, and only the people are the true masters of the state. This truth, as clear as daylight, was only awakened by the publication of The Social Contract in 1762, which dispelled the fog of the divine right of kings that had shrouded people for thousands of years. It was not until more than a hundred years later that this book was introduced to China and translated as The Theory of the Social Contract. The translator deeply sighed and remarked, "How cruel it is for Heaven to withhold The Theory of the Social Contract from our China!" This Interpretation provides a detailed analysis of The Social Contract from multiple perspectives, embodying the author's insights and experiences from nearly half a century of studying Rousseau.