Other Works

• The Government of Poland

  - Recommended translation:  The Government of Poland; ed. and trans. by Willmoore Kendall (Hackett Publishing: Indianapolis, 1985). Completed in 1772.
  Commissioned by  a Polish political leader who sought advice about how to best structure and reform the Polish government, Considerations on the Government of Poland (1772) represented Rousseau’s attempt to apply the abstract principles of The… More

Commentary

• [Book] Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Moralist

  - C.W. Hendel, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Moralist (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merril, 1934).
  Excerpt: Late in the manhood of Rousseau the moralist was born. Ordinary men who mature under parental care and acquire their moral principles through the slow and unconscious processes of habit scarcely know such discovery of themselves as moral beings. But… More

• Aspects of Rousseau’s Political Thought

  - George Kateb, “Aspects of Rousseau’s Political Thought,” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 76, No. 4, (1961) pp.519-43.
  Excerpt: In a review of Sir Isaiah Berlin’s Two Concepts of Liberty,  which appeared in The Times (London) Literary  Supplement,  the anonymous  writer  complained of the “slanders” that have  been lavished on the political philosophy… More

• Popular Sovereignty but Representative Government: The Other Rousseau

  - Frank Marini, “Popular sovereignty but representative government: the other Rousseau”, Midwest Journal of Political Science, Vol. 11, No. 4, (1967), pp. 451-70
  Excerpt: In recent years a debate over the status of classical theories of democracy seems to be shaping up. If classical theories of democracy are in for increased discussion and debate, Rousseau’s name almost certainly will figure prominently in the… More

• The Evolution of Rousseau’s View of Representative Government

  - Richard Fralin, “The evolution of Rousseau’s view of representative government”, Political Theory, Vol. 6, No. 4, (1978), pp. 517-36.
  Excerpt: Rousseau’s intense opposition to representative  government  in the Contrat  social is one of  the  most  distinctive  features  of  his political  thought.  None of  the  leading  political  thinkers  among  his … More

• The General Will Before Rousseau

  -
  Patrick Riley, "The General Will before Rousseau," Political Theory , Vol. 6, No. 4, (Nov., 1978), pp. 485-516.
  Excerpt: No one has ever doubted that the notion of the “general  will” (volonte  generale) is central  in Rousseau’s political  and moral  philosophy;  Rousseau himself  says that “the general will is always  right,”-… More

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the ‘Well-ordered Society’

  - Maurizio Viroli, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the ‘Well-ordered Society’ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
  From the publisher: This book studies a central but hitherto neglected aspect of Rousseau’s political thought: the concept of social order and its implications for the ideal society which he envisages. The antithesis between order and disorder is a… More

• Rousseau: The Turning Point

  - Allan Bloom, “Rousseau: The Turning Point”, in Confronting the Constitution: the challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and theFederalists from utilitarianism, historicism, Marxism, Freudianism, pragmatism, existentialism..., edited by Allan Bloom and Steven Kautz. (Washington, DC: AEI Press Volume 496, 1990).
  From the publisher: The 17 essays in this volume examine first the precepts of the Founding Fathers and their mentors. Then the most significant preconstitutional ideas are outlined, together with analyses of how they harmonize with the Constitution and how… More

• Rousseau’s Civil Religion Reconsidered

  - Terence Ball, “Rousseau's Civil Religion Reconsidered,” in Reappraising Political Theory: Revisionist Studies in the History of Political Thought (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).
  Excerpt: I ask and attempt to answer three questions. First, what role or place does Rousseau’s scheme for a civil religion occupy in his political theory? Second, what were Rousseau’s intentions—i.e. what was he attempting to do—in devising… More

• Rousseau and Liberty

  - Rousseau and Liberty, edited by Robert Wokler (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995).
  From the publisher: Rousseau is considered to be at once the most modern political thinker of the 18th century and the most ancient in his allegiance to classical republicanism. These essays address the place of liberty in his moral and political philosophy,… More

• The Force of Freedom: Rousseau on Forcing to be Free

  - Steven G. Affeldt, “The force of freedom: Rousseau on forcing to be free”, Political Theory, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jun., 1999), pp. 299-333.
  Excerpt: In this article I develop an interpretation  of the point and nature  of this  engagement of the social compact. While my concerns are in the first  instance  exegetical, I am also more generally  concerned  to address,  through … More

• Rousseau’s Counter-Enlightenment: A Republican Critique of the Philosophes

  - Graeme Garrard, Rousseau's Counter-Enlightenment: A RepublicanCritique of the Philosophes (New York: State University of New York Press, 2003).
  From the publisher: Arguing that the question of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s relationship to the Enlightenment has been eclipsed and seriously distorted by his association with the French Revolution, Graeme Garrard presents the first book-length case that… More

• An Essay on Rousseau’s Politics

  - Bertrand de Jouvenal, "An Essay on Rousseau’s Politics" in Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Critical Assessments of Leading Political Philosophers (Volume I), edited by John T. Scott (London: Routledge, 2006). pp. 79-140.
  Excerpt: Here we have the author who was the most praised, the most cursed, and the one who has exercised the greatest influence on the development of political beliefs and institutions.  Yet he is not a political writer.  Take a look at his oeuvre: those… More

• Political Economy and Individual Liberty

  - Ryan Patrick Hanley, “Political Economy and Individual Liberty” in The Challenge of Rousseau, edited by Eve Grace and Christopher Kelly (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
  Excerpt: The Discours sur l’économie politique is indeed likely “the least commented upon of Rousseau’s political writings.” This is in some sense unsurprising; as a contribution to the subject its title proclaims to be its focus, it can only be… More