Theory of General Will: In simple term, General Will is the will of the corporate body called the
community and it stands for the common good and general welfare of the society as a whole. It
superseded the respective wills of those who entered into social contract and agree to surrender all
their powers to the community. The chief sanction or characteristic mark behind is not the number
of persons willing it but the common good or general interest. However, it is not a mere compromise
but it represents a higher type of will of the society. It represents common consciousness of the
common good after discussion and proper deliberations. The important thing about it Is that it wills
the common good and not simply that it is willed by the majority of the members of the society.
The concept of General will is of paramount importance in Rousseau’s Social Contract Theory in
which through a contract, the individual became a member of the civil society and surrendered
himself completely and unconditionally to the will of the body of which he became a member. The
body s created was a moral and collective body and Rousseau called it the General Will which is the
will of the entire body of the contracting members.
The chief characteristics of the General will is ‘common good,’ naturally, it is the sum total of
synthesis of all the Real wills of the society. Bernard Bosanquet explains that individual has two wills-
the Actual Will which is based on self-interest, hence narrow and self-conflicting, being unrelated to
the well-being of the society; encouraging man to be selfish, immoral and bad. The second will is the
Real will which is moral, self-less, sincere, infallible, inalienable, indivisible, permanent and rational.
It considers more of a common good or general interest than that the good of a particular individual
and thus it promotes harmony and represents true freedom.
It is clear that according to Rousseau, General will alone constitutes the legitimate basis of political
obligation. It is nothing but the expression of common good in terms of human will and the rightful
and legitimate form of authority rests on its pillar. General will is the source of law, justice and power.
It constitutes popular sovereignty where the people are both the ruler and the ruled. Above all, it is
always on the side of the general good. People ought to obey the General will not because it is
imposed upon them but because it is an intrinsic part of themselves. General will interprets the
individual to himself.
Rousseau’s ideas find an important place in the realm of political theory and governmental
organization. His theory of General Will has been severely criticized: (a) The concept of General Will
is vague and confusing. There is a distinction between the general will and the will of all and to
explain the difference, it is a very complicated argument. (b) Rousseau makes the General Will
absolute. He places no limit on the absolute power of the whole over its member. The individual has
to surrender completely to it; he has no option against the General Will. There is a grave danger that
it may become tyrannical. (c) He couched the concept of the General Will in a language that paved
the way for totalitarianism and the absolute state. (d) If Rousseau’s principles are followed, there
would be no stable government, because the general will does not stand for the will of the majority.
Today democratic governments function according to the will of the majority, which bis not the case
in Rousseau’s scheme of things.
