The social contract & discoursesRousseau, Jean-Jacques
Philosophy
The social contract & discourses
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
Economics; Political science -- Early works to 1800; Social contract
We found, on general grounds, that monarchy is suitable only for
great States, and this is confirmed when we examine it in itself.
The more numerous the public administration, the smaller becomes the
relation between the prince and the subjects, and the nearer it comes
to equality, so that in democracy the ratio is unity, or absolute
equality. Again, as the government is restricted in numbers the ratio
increases and reaches its _maximum_ when the government is in the hands
of a single person. There is then too great a distance between prince
and people and the State lacks a bond of union. To form such a bond,
there must be intermediate orders, and princes, personages and nobility
to compose them. But no such things suit a small State, to which all
class differences mean ruin.
If, however, it is hard for a great State to be well governed, it is
much harder for it to be so by a single man; and every one knows what
happens when kings substitute others for themselves.
An essential and inevitable defect, which will always rank monarchical
below republican government, is that in a republic the public voice
hardly ever raises to the highest positions men who are not enlightened
and capable, and such as to fill them with honour; while in monarchies
these who rise to the top are most often merely petty blunderers petty
swindlers, and petty intriguers, whose petty talents cause them to
get into the highest positions at Court, but, as soon as they have
got there, serve only to make their ineptitude clear to the public.
The people is far less often mistaken in its choice than the prince;
and a man of real worth among the king's ministers is almost as rare
as a fool at the head of a republican government. Thus, when, by
some fortunate chance, one of these born governors takes the helm of
State in some monarchy that has been nearly overwhelmed by swarms of
'gentlemanly' administrators, there is nothing but amazement at the
resources he discovers, and his coming marks an era in his country's
history.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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