Will and Political Legitimacy: A Critical Exposition of Social Contract Theory in Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, and Hegel

Abstract

At the heart of representative government is the question: makes government and its agents legitimate authorities? The notion of consent to a social contract between the citizen and his government is central to this problem. What are the functions of public authority? What are the people's rights in a self-governing and representative state? Patrick Riley presents a comprehensive historical analysis of the meaning of contract theory and a testing of the inherent validity of the ideas of consent and obligation. He uncovers the critical relationship between the act of willing and that of consenting in self-government and shows how will relates to political legitimacy. His is the first large-scale study of social contract theory from Hobbes to Rawls that gives will the central place it occupies in contractarian thinking.

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