by Carlyle as the ‘‘bonfire of feudalism.’’ Government, according to Rosseau,
in all its Departments, was the agent of the General Will of the sovereign
people whose welfare must always be its aim and object, But, the General
Will for the time being was also liable to err about the particular means
chosen to achieve the ends of good Government. There was, according to
Rousseau, also another part of the ‘‘General Will’’ which was more permanent
and stable and unerring and decisive. He hinted that there was what
Bosanquet (See: The philosophical Theory of the State – Chap. V) called the
‘‘Real Will’’, the basis of which was found in Rousseau’s philosophy. As
pointed out by T.H. Green, in his Lectures on ‘‘Principles of Political
Obligation.’’ (1931 Edn P. 82) Rousseau’s theory of sovereignty was designed
to bring out that:
‘‘there’s on earth a yet adjuster thing, Veiled though it be, than
Parliament and King.’’
T.H. Green said: ‘‘It is to this ‘auguster thing’, not to such supreme power
as English lawyers held to be vested in ‘Parliament and King’, that
Rousseau’s account of the sovereign is really applicable.’’
540. The ideas of Rousseau were subsequently used by Hegelian and
Idealist political philosophers to deify the State as the repository of the ‘‘Real
Will’’ of the people and by Marxists to build their theory of a dictatorship of
the proletariat. But, the views of Locke and Montesquieu were sought to be
given a practical form by American Constitution makers, who imbued with
them devised a machinery for the control of sovereign power of the people
placed in the hands of the three organs of State so that it may not be
misused. Suspicion of Governmental power and fear of its misuse, which
characterised liberal democratic thinking, underlay the doctrine of separation
of powers embodied in the American Constitution.
541. ‘‘The merits of democracy’’. According to Bertrand Russel (See:
‘‘Power: A new Social Analysis’’ p. 187) are negative: it does not insure good
Government, but it prevents certain evils.’’ He pointed out (at p. 188):
‘‘It is possible , in a democracy, for the majority to exercise a brutal and
wholly unnecessary tyranny over a minority ................ The safeguarding of
minorities, so for as is compatible with orderly Government, is an essential
part of the taming of power.’’
He also said (at p. 192):
‘‘Where democracy exists, there is still need to safeguard individuals and
minorities against tyranny, both because tyranny is undesirable in itself, and
because it is likely to lead to breaches of order. Montesquieu’s advocacy of the
separation of legislative, executive and judiciary, the traditional English
belief in checks and balances, Bentham’s political doctrines and the whole of
nineteenth century liberalism, were designed to prevent the arbitrary
exercise of power. But such methods have come to be considered incompatible
with efficiency.’’
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents