Social Contract

Discipline: Political Science

Theory of political obligation or authority.

The duty to obey government and law, and the right to govern and make law, arises from a contract or agreement either between ruler and ruled, or amongst the ruled. It is not normally suggested that there ever was an actual historical contract, but that it would be reasonable to behave as if there had been.

Source:
P Riley, Will and Political Legitimacy (Cambridge, Mass., 1982)

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