Vontade geral e democracia: um estudo da democracia direta em Rousseau

Abstract

Direct democracy is Rousseau's fundamental novelty for the constitution of the modern state. In order to understand the need for the people's direct participation in the sovereign and the impossibility of their representation, we must first study the presuppositions that Rousseau establishes for the body politic. Starting with a hypothetical construction of the state of nature, Rousseau places corrupted civil society as the origin of human inequality, with its beginnings precisely in the institution of private property. To overcome this civil state, it becomes necessary to build a new form of civilisation called the Republic, a public institution to guarantee freedom and equality between men. The Republic is based on the general will of the people, a concept that, unlike the will of all, refers to the sum of the maximum differences expressed between the ideas of the citizens gathered in assembly. That's why all citizens need to participate directly in political decisions, since from the clash of differences emerges what is common to all and legitimises the concept of people and laws. For this participation in power, Rousseau envisages the ideal of a small state and posits the need for a new education of the people as a condition for the possibility of direct democracy. In order to fulfil the people's deliberations, the existence of a government is fundamental. However, the executive is subordinate to the legislature and must fulfil what is established by the sovereign. The people become subjects of the state once it has instituted a law. Thus, no one obeys anyone but themselves, summarising the ideal of the Rousseaunian body politic: uniting the strength of the state with the freedom of man.