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For Rousseau, a republic is the same thing as a nation or body politic, although the word implies popular sovereignty (meaning that the state is formed and run by the people).
Republic Quotes in The Social Contract
The The Social Contract quotes below are all either spoken by Republic or refer to Republic. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 1, Introduction
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Born as I was the citizen of a free state and a member of its sovereign body, the very right to vote imposes on me the duty to instruct myself in public affairs, however little influence my voice may have in them. And whenever I reflect upon governments, I am happy to find that my studies always give me fresh reasons for admiring that of my own country.
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Book 3, Chapter 11
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Such is the natural and inevitable tendency of the best constituted governments. If Sparta and Rome perished, what state can hope to last for ever? If we wish, then, to set up a lasting constitution, let us not dream of making it eternal. We can succeed only if we avoid attempting the impossible and flattering ourselves that we can give to the work of man a durability that does not belong to human things.
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Book 3, Chapter 15
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The idea of representation is a modem one. It comes to us from feudal government, from that iniquitous and absurd system under which the human race is degraded and which dishonours the name of man. In the republics and even in the monarchies of the ancient world, the people never had representatives; the very word was unknown.
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Republic Term Timeline in The Social Contract
The timeline below shows where the term Republic appears in The Social Contract. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1, Chapter 6: The Social Pact
...its members: depending on the context, it can be called a body politic, nation, or republic (which are synonyms); a state (as a “passive” institution that is governed by laws); a...
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Book 2, Chapter 6: On Law
Rousseau defines “any state which is ruled by law” in this way to be a republic and argues that “all legitimate government is ‘republican.’” In other words, “laws are […] the...
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Book 2, Chapter 12: Classification of Laws
Rousseau argues that, in order to be successful, a republic needs to use different kinds of laws to define “various relations” among various kinds of...
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Book 3, Chapter 6: Monarchy
...people with powerful roles in the administration, which they ruin through corruption. Meanwhile, in a republic, only competent people are elected to such offices. Similarly, while monarchs are good at conquering...
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Book 3, Chapter 14: The Same—Continued
...and when they try to seize control from the people, they often destroy the very republic.
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Book 4, Chapter 4: The Roman Comitia
...was first established, but Rousseau believes the authoritative traditional narratives about it. The original Roman Republic was the Roman army, which was divided into “tribes” and other subgroups. The king Servius...
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...simple: people “vote[d] by word of mouth,” and a majority won. But eventually, as the Republic’s political culture declined, people started buying votes, and to try to prevent this practice, the...
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