Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T17:37:01.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rousseau on Agenda-Setting and Majority Rule

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2003

ETHAN PUTTERMAN
ETHAN PUTTERMAN
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, National University of Singapore, AS1, Level 4, 11 Arts Link, Singapore 117570 ([email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This essay examines the tension between agenda-setting and majority rule in the writings of one of the earliest and most original theorists of participatory democracy, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Exploring Rousseau's views on lawmaking and the complexities associated with legislative initiation, specifically, this essay challenges the notion that representatives or legislative experts in a democracy inevitably reduce popular participation to acclamation. Contrary to authors who believe that Rousseau surreptitiously devolves political power to an elected elite who predecide a legislative agenda for a passive majority to vote upon later, I argue that the philosopher delegates authority to initiate the laws to representatives without undermining either the sovereignty or the robustness of citizen self-rule. This argument reveals, in part, why contemporary participatory democracy is not inherently “immobile” owing to the self-reinforcing benefits of democratic participation within a well-balanced constitution.The author wishes to thank Mads Qvortrup, Benjamin Wong, and APSR's Reviewers.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 97 , Issue 3 , August 2003 , pp. 459 - 469
Copyright
© 2003 by the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Affeldt Stephen G. 1999 The Force of Freedom: Rousseau on Forcing to Be Free Political Theory 27 3 299 333Google Scholar
Barber Benjamin R. 1984 Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age Berkeley University of California Press
Barker Ernest 1947 The Social Contract: Essays by Locke, Hume, Rousseau London Oxford University Press
Cobban Alfred 1934 Rousseau and the Modern State London Allen and Unwin
Crocker Lester, G. 1973 Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Prophetic Voice (1758–1778), II New York Collier–Macmillan
Cullen D. E. 1993 Freedom in Rousseau's Political Philosophy De Kalb Northern Illinois University Press
Ellenburg Stephen 1976 Rousseau's Political Philosophy: An Interpretation from Within Ithica, NY Cornell University Press
Fralin Richard 1978 Rousseau and Representation: A Study of the Development of His Concept of Political Institutions New York Columbia University Press
Gildin Hilail 1983 Rousseau's Social Contract: The Design of the Argument Chicago University of Chicago Press
Held David 1996 Models of Democracy Cambridge Polity Press
Hobbes Thomas 1841 De Cive. The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury Sir W. Molesworth London John Bohn Vol. II
Johnson Steven, L. 1999 Encountering Tragedy: Rousseau and the Project of Democratic Order Ithica, NY Cornell University Press
Kaufman Alexander 1997 Reason, Self-Legislation and Legitimacy: Conceptions of Freedom in the Political Thought of Rousseau and Kant Review of Politics 59 1 25 52Google Scholar
Madison J. A. Hamilton J. Jay [1788] 1977 The Federalist Philadelphia The Franklin Library
Manin Bernard 1997 The Principles of Representative Government Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Masters Roger D. 1968 The Political Philosophy of Rousseau Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press
Michels Robert 1915 Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy Glencoe, IL Free Press
Mill John Stuart. [1861] 1975 Considerations on Representative Government Three Essays Oxford Oxford University Press
Miller J. 1984 Rousseau, Dreamer of Democracy New Haven, CT Yale University Press
Pateman Carole 1970 Participation and Democratic Theory Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Pitkin Hanna Fenichel. 1967 The Concept of Representation Berkeley University of California Press
Rosenblatt Helena 1997 Rousseau and Geneva: From the First Discourse to the Social Contract, 1749–1762 Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Rousseau Jean Jacques. 1959 Euvres Complétes 5 vols. B. Gagnebin M. Raymond. Paris Gallimard, Bibliotheque de la Pléiade
Rousseau Jean Jacques. 1979 Emile: Or on Education trans. Allan Bloom New York Basic Books
Rousseau Jean Jacques 1997a The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings trans. Victor Gourevitch Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Rousseau Jean Jacques 1997b The Social Contract and Other Later Political Writings trans. Victor Gourevitch Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Sartori Giovanni 1987 The Theory of Democracy Revisited, Part II Chatham, NJ Chatham House
Schumpeter Joseph A. 1943 Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy London Allen and Unwin
Shklar Judith. N. [1969] 1987 Men and Citizens: A Study of Rousseau's Social Theory Cambridge, New York Cambridge University Press
Vaughan C. E. 1915 The Political Writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Vol. II Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Wolfe Joel D. 1985 A Defense of Participatory Democracy Review of Politics 47 3 370-89Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.