people and the government they comprise, and "inquire[s] if, in the civil order, there can be any sure and legitimate rule of administration, men being taken as they are and laws as they might be" (The Social Contract, 181). His answer to the inquiry is the social contract. Rousseau's proposed complex system of government supposedly ensures every citizen's freedom but does nothing for societal progress.
             Every citizen consolidates to become the Sovereign, which is the collective executive government in Rousseau's social contract. However, the citizen still retains his individuality. Despite when acting as the Sovereign, the individual sets aside his own self interest and governs by the general will. "Each man, in giving himself to all, gives himself to nobody" (The Social Contract, 192). With the time period considered, this was an extreme
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