ess they lack legal capacity due to mental illness or mental incapacity, have political rights in federal matters. All citizens have the same political rights and duties. They may participate in elections to the National Council and in federal popular votes, and launch or sign popular initiatives and requests for referendums in federal matters (Swiss Constitution, 1999). It reflects Rousseau s theories more than any other of states constitutions. As a result Switzerland reaps what it sows. It has one of the highest social welfare and equality indexes worldwide (oecdbetterlifeindex).
2. Establishment of Government
, we ve come to issues considering the structure of government. The Sovereign make laws and represents the general will, but who has the power to carry them out? The sovereign hires government representatives in orders to have an executive power. Rousseau says that it is compulsory to have separate legislative and executive powers to maintain the equality (Rousseau, book 3). Then he talks about the forms of government that sovereign can choose. It depends on several factors. Uppermost, it depends on climate. It is more difficult to the government and the sovereign to maintain regular communications at large distances, thus it needs more power. This, in its turn, leads to monarchy. Conversely, a small territory with better climate is a good prerequisite for democracy. Forms of government differ from each other by capacity of its power and by the degree of liberty. Other than mentioned features, it is necessary to democracy to have meetings with all of its members who are equal socially and have equal powers. Aristocracy - is one of the forms where there are several people on the head of the government. Rousseau says that is the most effective when these people are elected, not when it is hereditary. The next and the most dangerous form of a government is monarchy. It differs from others by quick decision making and limitless power of the governor. Also, there is a highest probability there that it moves to dictatorship or despotism. Rousseau admits that it is not possible to have pure forms of any of these governments. So, it creates conditions for formation of mixed government (Rousseau, 89-100). British Parliament is a good example of mixed governments, with reduced power of monarchy and with other organs like, House of Common, House of Lords, and a prime minister (thebritishparliament.blogspot). Rousseau talks about another body in the government which is called tribunate. Its function is to maintain the power between the sovereign and the government, itself being completely independent. It is like a judge who preserves the balance, having no legislative or executive powers (Rousseau 136-137). Switzerland is a good example of non-presidential separated power system. Swiss constitution says The judicial authorities are independent in the exercise of their judicial powers and are bound only by the law (Art. 191c). , It clearly reflects Rousseau s concept about tribunate. This is the only non-presidential country with separated powers, thus the most suited to Rousseau s theory of sovereignty. However there are a lot of other developed countries with separated executive and legislative powers with judicial authorities such as UK, US, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Austria, Ghana, Chile, etc. The World Bank Indicator shows that in such countries the government effectiveness index is high. Therefore, I very much agree that Rousseau s theory of separation of powers is effective and should be the basis of the way government is controlled. Rousseau emphasizes the importance of censorship and religion. He asserts that people should believe in god, in afterlife and in justice. Censorship, Rousseau claims, is needed to create a morality among people by changing public opinions (Rousseau 141-146). It is clear that, for Rousseau, the prosperity of any government directly depends on its citizens and on their morality and on their general will. As religion and censorship affects these human qualities, it should be an essential part of government. were Rousseau s main principles of having an efficient governmental system. As we can see, not all of his theories are justified and can be implemented in practice. However the principle of equality and consolidation is the main part of any developed democratic country. In fact, Pugachev (2001) argues that the presence of social contract is one of the main characteristics in developing countries with high rate of development. He gives examples of countries which moved to democracy such as Chile after Pinochet and Spain after Franco s dictatorship, which have significantly increased the level of social welfare since that time.
social powers rousseau
Conclusion
The modern understan...
