Which book put forward the view that sovereignty lies in the general will of the people?
- A.Leviathan
- B.The Social Contract
- C.The Republic
- D.On Liberty
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, The Social Contract. Jean-Jacques Rousseau published The Social Contract in 1762 with the opening claim that man is born free yet everywhere is in chains, and he held that legitimate authority rests only on the general will of the whole people, an idea that fed directly into the French Revolution and into the modern notion of popular sovereignty. Option A is wrong because Hobbes in Leviathan placed sovereignty in a single ruler to whom subjects surrender their rights permanently. Option C is wrong because Plato's Republic describes an ideal state ruled by philosopher kings and says nothing of a general will. Option D is wrong because On Liberty by John Stuart Mill is an argument for the freedom of the individual against interference by the state or by society, which is a different question altogether.
Read the full article: Books on Economics and Politics and Their Authors
Practice Questions
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- A.David Ricardo
- B.Adam Smith
- C.Thomas Malthus
- D.John Stuart Mill
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- A.Chandragupta Maurya
- B.Kalidasa
- C.Kautilya
- D.Megasthenes
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- B.Dadabhai Naoroji
- C.R. C. Dutt
- D.Mahadev Govind Ranade
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- A.Friedrich Engels
- B.Karl Marx
- C.Vladimir Lenin
- D.Friedrich Hayek
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Read the full explanation →'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money', published in 1936, was written by
- A.Alfred Marshall
- B.John Maynard Keynes
- C.Paul Samuelson
- D.Milton Friedman
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