: This controversial phrase suggests that anyone refusing to obey the general will must be compelled by the body politic to do so, as the law itself is an expression of their own civil liberty.
: His ideas heavily inspired the French Revolution and the development of democratic and republican systems.
: Sovereignty belongs to the whole population, not a monarch. Rousseau rejected the "divine right" of kings, asserting that legitimate authority rests solely on the consent of the governed.
