Joshua Cohen, “Reflections on Rousseau: autonomy and democracy,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 15, No. 3, (1986), pp. 275-97.

Excerpt:

In this essay I discuss several recent studies of Rousseau’s political philosophy. These studies cover a broad  array  of issues, ranging from Rousseau on the nature of the will to Rousseau on direct democracy,  and from  the intellectual context that shaped Rousseau’s ideas to the influence of  those ideas on Robespierre  and the sans-culottes. I have focused here on  problems that are both central to Rousseau’s work and of interest in  contemporary  political philosophy. My discussion emphasizes three central Rousseauean themes: (1) the basic problem in political philosophy  is to characterize a form of social order that encourages the autonomy  of  the members of that order; (2) social institutions play a central role in  shaping the motivations and self-understanding  of the members of society; and (3) the form of social order  that most adequately  accommodates  both the central value of autonomy and the shaping role of institutions  is a system of egalitarian-democratic  institutions.I The first theme provides the focus in Part I, the third in Part II; the second plays a role  throughout.

Online:
JSTOR