Social Contract Theory Explained (Paperback)

Paperback. Why should anyone obey a government at all?A police officer stops a car on an empty road at two in the morning and tells the driver to step out. The driver does it. Nobody is watching, no force is being used, and he could drive away. He obeys because of an arrangement he has never examined and cannot remember agreeing to.Three men spent their lives trying to explain that arrangement, and their answers built the modern state.Thomas Hobbes, writing in exile while England executed its own king, concluded that authority must be nearly absolute or it will not hold. John Locke, writing while his associates were hanged for treason, concluded that power is a trust and that a government which breaks it may be removed. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, chased between cities by magistrates who burned his books, concluded that a people can be governed lawfully, peacefully and well, and still not be free.This book takes all three arguments apart in plain language and shows exactly how each one is built. No jargon, no assumed background, and no pretending the theory has no holes in it.Inside you will find: The complete argument of each thinker, from the state of nature to the sovereignWhy each man's picture of human nature decides his politics, and why the same is true of every political argument you hear todayThe three states of nature and the three sovereigns set directly side by sideThe critics given their full say: Hume, Burke, Marx, Carole Pateman on the sexual contract, Charles Mills on the racial contract, and the anarchist objection that the theory has never met its own standardHow the same tradition produced the Declaration of Independence and the TerrorRawls, the veil of ignorance, and why the idea came back in 1971What the theory says about taxation, immigration, emergency powers, obligations to future generations, and the terms of service nobody readsWritten for students and general readers alike. Includes diagrams comparing the three systems, a guide to reading the original texts, a timeline, a glossary of key terms, discussion questions and full references.If you have heard the phrase and want to know what is actually in it, start here. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…