In the modern era of democracy and equality for which all nations have been fighting for centuries, it is hard to imagine that some time ago, the situation looked in another way, and the right to rule was won not due to the overall choice of the nation but because of the person’s strength, ability to conquer and subdue others or the ability to keep the multitude in horror and obedience. Rousseau recollects the principles that used to govern ancient societies where the strongest received everything but was still unable to retain the power unless they found the way to keep the influence based on fear and intimidation long enough not to substitute it by any legal preconditions for their power.
Rousseau was a profound activist who fought for freedom and equality of all people and promoted the principles of liberty in France of his times when the country’s government still remained deaf to the needs of society and existed in an isolated way. Rousseau was one of the first who recognized the necessity of giving the full set of rights to the human being because of the natural possession thereof. He thought that people should not fight for the basic rights and freedoms, as well as they should not exist under the despotism of their rulers if they do not want this – he saw “men being taken as they are and laws as they might be” in the ideal state and refused from the idea of the natural choice for the rulers (Rousseau).
In the scope of the 18th century that was characterized by the beginning of the struggle for democracy in its basic understanding, Rousseau was the one to understand that the truly democratic state should be grounded on principles other than strength and physical force, but something that would guide human lives without any division for the strong and the weak should be created:
“I feel that however feeble the influence my voice can have on public affairs, the right of voting on them makes it my duty to study them: and I am happy, when I reflect upon governments, to find my inquiries always furnish me with new reasons for loving that of my own country.”
Together with the recognition of the necessity to create the duty and right that were to become the basics of a civil state, Rousseau called the governments of all newly built democratic states to accept all people as equal, to give them the right to speak freely and to influence the flow of affairs in the state actively. It is very interesting to see that the principles outlined by Rousseau in his Social Contract became the basis of all world’s democratic constitutions and declarations of rights, which can be evident from the French Declaration of Rights of Men and the USA Declaration of Independence.
France became a real example of the state seen by Rousseau in his considerations of a civil state – in all terms, including the right to vote and to assembly, the right to property inherent in every person being born in the state, and not according to the strength and priority, but according to the law. The USA also represents a worthy example of the state strictly protecting human rights from violation – but the history shows the contradiction with one of the main positions laid out By Rousseau: despotism and slavery. The USA, one of the most profound democracies in the world, experienced inhuman and cruel African American slavery for centuries and, further on, continued discrimination and segregation of African American people. This is the only violation that can be seen in the existence of both states under the conditions of a democratic civil state that has adopted after the revolutionary events that happened on their territories.
Surely, it is possible to find much more in compliance with Rousseau’s principles of the civil state because Rousseau encouraged revolutions and rebellions if something was wrong in the state, and modern politics is hard to imagine in such instability. In addition, Rousseau states that politicians should not speak but should act, which is surely not always correct for modern politicians. In all other aspects, it seems that France and the USA are genuine examples of democratic civil states – at least on paper, according to the Declarations protecting the rights of their citizens that were fixed several centuries ago. In reality, the situation is surely not always as ideal as it should be according to these Declarations.