Linked from

The 91 pages that link to Social contract, each with the reason it gives.

• Human rightsRelated: Unlike rights grounded in personhood, this theory ties political duties to the basis of government.

• Political legitimacyRelated: Social-contract theories connect legitimate rule to terms citizens could accept.

• SovereigntyRelated: Social-contract theories offer a source of sovereignty in the people’s authorization.

• John LockeRelated: Locke grounds legitimate government in consent rather than inherited rule.

• Natural lawRelated: Contract theories offer a different route from natural law for grounding political obligations.

• Jean-Jacques RousseauNarrower topic: Rousseau recasts the contract as collective self-rule rather than submission to a sovereign.

• Divine right of kingsCompared with: It makes political legitimacy depend on human consent rather than divine appointment.

• Popular sovereigntyRelated: It explains how consent can authorize government without treating rulers as naturally entitled to rule.

• State formationCompared with: It contrasts with historical accounts that trace state power to coercion and extraction.

• Thomas HobbesRelated: Hobbes explains sovereign authority as the result of people authorizing a common power.

• IndividualismRelated: Social-contract theories show how individual consent can ground collective political order.

• Edmund BurkeRelated: Burke recast political obligation as a partnership extending across generations, not merely a present-day bargain.

• Natural rightsRelated: Contract theories use prepolitical rights to explain why people create governments and limit their power.

• Political philosophyRelated: Contract arguments offer influential accounts of why political institutions may bind their members.

• Human natureRelated: It asks what forms of government people with particular motives would establish.

• John RawlsNarrower topic: Rawls revives contract reasoning as a device for identifying fair principles, not as a historical event.

• United States Declaration of IndependenceRelated: The declaration argues that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.

• CommunitarianismRelated: Communitarianism questions whether political obligation can be grounded in individual agreement alone.

• AuthorityRelated: It explains political authority as grounded in consent or mutual agreement.

• Stakeholder theoryRelated: Stakeholder accounts often explain corporate legitimacy through obligations to society.

• Consent of the governedRelated: It models consent as the authorization that establishes political obligations.

• French EnlightenmentRelated: It made government answerable to the people whose consent legitimized it.

• Johann Gottlieb FichteCompared with: Fichte’s account of rights and reciprocal recognition differs from contract-based explanations of social order.

• Olympe de GougesRelated: De Gouges invoked the language of mutual civic obligation to challenge women's exclusion from political life.

• Political authorityRelated: Contract theories explain authority through the agreement that creates or authorizes government.

• PropertyNarrower topic: It situates property rights within broader accounts of the state and legal order.

• Harm principleRelated: Mill’s account of legitimate interference belongs to broader debates about political authority.

• OathRelated: Civic oaths can symbolize consent to shared political obligations.

• RightsRelated: Contract theories explain rights and duties through the terms of political association.

• Social protectionRelated: Shared protection programs express public commitments about mutual support and security.

• State of natureRelated: It models the transition from a prepolitical condition to legitimate collective rule.

• CollectivismRelated: Its account of authority can prioritize consent by individuals rather than collective purpose.

• GovernmentRelated: It frames government as an arrangement justified by obligations between authority and the governed.

• MinarchismRelated: Minarchist accounts use consent to explain why a limited state may be legitimate.

• Tax complianceRelated: Perceived public services and fair treatment can strengthen willingness to meet tax obligations.

• Virginia Declaration of RightsRelated: The declaration treats government as accountable to those whose rights it is meant to secure.

• Ethical egoismRelated: Contract theories often explain cooperation as serving the interests of self-interested people.

• Joseph de MaistreCompared with: He rejected contract theories that made political authority depend on human choice.

• LyingRelated: Shared expectations of truthful speech support cooperation and social trust.

• Post-conflict reconstructionRelated: A postwar settlement must establish why citizens should recognize and support the reconstructed state.

• Social dilemmaRelated: It offers a framework for understanding why people accept common rules that restrain individually tempting actions.

• Social orderRelated: It frames order as an arrangement that secures cooperation and protection.

• Emmanuel Joseph SieyèsCompared with: Rousseau’s account of sovereignty raised a tension with Sieyès’s emphasis on political representation.

• Individual rightsRelated: It links the legitimacy of government to the protection of individual claims.

• Noble savageRelated: Early modern accounts of society often contrasted political order with life in a state of nature.

• One-nation conservatismRelated: The tradition treats duties between classes as part of a shared political settlement.

• Police legitimacyRelated: Police legitimacy raises questions about what obligations and protections justify coercive authority.

• Role-playingRelated: Shared expectations help participants agree on boundaries, tone, and acceptable actions.

• Secular ethicsRelated: It derives shared obligations from the terms of social cooperation.

• Atlantic revolutionsRelated: Revolutionaries used consent-based accounts of authority to justify replacing inherited rule.