Social Contract

Abstract

Contrast the following two political communities: one is governed by rulers who have not at any point elicited their subjects’ consent to their rulership; the other is governed by rulers who would not be in power were it not for the consent of those who are subject to their laws. According to social contract theory, the former rulers are illegitimate, precisely insofar as they do not govern with the consent of the governed, whereas the latter are legitimate, precisely insofar as they govern with such consent. The thought that the consent of the governed is a necessary condition for political legitimacy is the defining feature of social contract theory. In this entry, I first give a thematic overview of classical social contract theory as articulated in three seminal works: Hobbes'sLeviathan, Locke'sSecond Treatise of Government, and Rousseau'sThe Social Contract. I then sketch out the tradition's legacy in contemporary political philosophy, notably in the works of John Rawls.