Right of man and duty of the State in The social contract of Jean Jacques Rousseau

Abstract

This work is a political philosophy on right of Man and duty of the State. This will constitute a reflection on jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract. It will contain a typical discus on the right of man in the State and also the duty of the state toward man. The most re-occurring themes of this work will centre on man and state, right and duty. This work is aiming at upholding right of man through duty of the state. According to Rousseau it became a time when people were living a life far worse than they were in the state of nature, where there were no laws and life became survival of the fittest. This was because the monarchs, kings and rulers of his time mistook power as right, as such this led to dictatorship, tyranny, corruptions and injustice. He then called on man to come together and form a Social Contract in which they will make right a supreme ruler of the state in subjugation of power, this can be done through the duties that the state was to take in protecting man in all domain. This was because everyone, be it king, monarch or president will respect this right and they will make right and duty a universal law, that is, what is right for one person is right for everybody. In this work we are going examine as to whether Rousseau finally realize this dream. This is because in our contemporary society today, that is, there are revolutions in the east, north, west, and south. This implies that there is no peaceful coexistence between man and state because either man or the state has failed in it right or duty. If state has failed in its duty why? And if man has failed to respect state, why? These following approaches will be us in carrying out this finding, which is analytical, critical, synthetically and reconciling method. Therefore, this work is aiming at the right of man and the duty of the state by uniting right and duty and also trying to give a solution to this entire contemporary political crisis, rivalry, revolution, and conflict between man and the state. This problem is as a result of either, man or the State has mistaken right and duty for power, leading the state to Anarchism. Further-more, in this work, we shall look at the idea of right and duty of the state among the contractualist, the appraisal of his theory of Rousseau‟s notion of right and duty, and lastly the reality of Rousseau‟s right and duty in the context of Africa. With all this we will end at nothing but find a way forward to the resolution for the contemporary problem of man and the State. Keywords: right,