Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract provides an abstract theory of political association, one that is often touted as one of the first endorsements of direct democracy as its only legitimate form. However, in certain remarks throughout the text, and most notably in Book IV, he provides a...

The principle of consent, taken by itself, is insufficient to establish the legitimacy of government. Its insufficiency follows from the fact that mere exercises of will (including acts of consent) have no moral import in and of themselves. Even worse, we cannot distinguish some exercises of...

This paper considers some of the most important political philosophers of the Enlightenment (taken as broad concept) – thinkers whose reflections on the idea of a social contract we relate to their views on taxation. Hobbes argues for an (almost) absolute political sovereignty and legal...