...course of this (III.15.5), he expresses his trenchant view of the much vaunted freedom of the English: Sovereignty cannot be represented for the same reason...consists essentially in the general will, and the will does not admit of being represented: either it is the same or it is different; there is no middle ground....

...famous for insisting that the general will could not be represented. As he wrote in the Social Contract, "Sovereignty cannot be represented, for the same reason...alienated; it consists essentially in the general will, and will does not represent itself: it is itself, or it is something else; there is no middle ground. The...

...for all other rights" (CS, I/I). 14. Thereby adhering at least to the letter of Du contrat social: "Sovereignty cannot be represented, for the same reason...that it cannot be alienated. It consists essentially of the general will, and will cannot be represented" (CS, III/XV). 15. Among these I am most indebted...

...institutionality. Jean-Jacques Rousseau inaugurated this tradition with his remarks on British democracy: [Sovereignty cannot be represented for the same reason that it cannot be alienated. . . . The people's deputies are not and could not be its representatives; they are merely its agents...

...they are made by the people. The most famous argument to that effect comes from Rousseau (l947: 85): "Sovereignty cannot be represented for the same reason that it cannot be alienated; its essence is the general will, and that will must speak for itself, or it does not exist; it is either...

...passing the well-known fact that Rousseau regarded this model of sovereignty as a form of slavery. "Sovereignty cannot be represented for the same reason...consists essentially in the general will, and the will does not allow of being represented. It is either itself or something else; there is nothing in between....

...argument could be applied to a collective sovereign as well. "Sovereignty," Rousseau wrote in 1762, "cannot be represented for the same reason that it...general will, and the will cannot be represented; it is either itself or something else; no middle ground is possible. The deputies of the people, therefore,...

...that his argument against representation was exceptionally terse. His most explicit statement was, 'Sovereignty cannot be represented for the same reason...consists essentially in the general will, and the will does not admit of being represented: either it is the same or it is different; there is no middle ground'...

...citizens, and their direct participation in the public sphere could guarantee a genuine democracy. "Sovereignty cannot be represented for the same reason that it cannot be alienated. It essentially consists in the general will, and this will can not be represented at all. Sovereignty...

...be.19 Later, in the chapter devoted to representatives in Book III, he elaborates on this argument. Sovereignty cannot be represented, for the same reason that it cannot be alienated; its essence is the general will, and will cannot be represented — either it is the general will or...