Abstract
The Social Contract was first published in 1752. From then on, Rousseau’s conception of democracy has been interpreted and questioned in several ways. This article has a hermeneutic approach, by trying to contribute to clarifying this conception and by proving that conservative interpretations identifying authoritarian or even totalitarian thinking with Rousseau’s conceptions do not match with the sense of the texts. At the same time, Rousseau’s differences with Hobbes and Locke’s political conceptions are clearly set up. Otherwise, he anticipates the uprising of new forms of thinking regarding classic liberalism and the French Illustration. He generated critical thinking about modern society and clearly presented the problem of social fragmentation and the need to overcome this by conferring power to the communitarian dimension of society, through the foundation of a new political order and a new educational project. The conception of participative democracy, based on the principle of popular sovereignty is the new democratic tradition founded by Rousseau, different from Locke s thinking. This conception has reached a important development in current times.
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