Considerations on the Government of Poland

Considerations on the Government of Poland — also simply The Government of Poland or, in the original French, Considérations sur le gouvernement de Pologne — is an essay by French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau concerning the design of a new constitution for the people of Poland (or more exactly, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). It represents Rousseau's last venture into political theory. To many readers, The Government of Poland is surpri... more

Considerations on the Government of Poland — also simply The Government of Poland or, in the original French, Considérations sur le gouvernement de Pologne — is an essay by French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau concerning the design of a new constitution for the people of Poland (or more exactly, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). It represents Rousseau's last venture into political theory. To many readers, The Government of Poland is surprising in the degree to which its recommendations sometimes defy the principles expressed in Rousseau's more famous work, The Social Contract. Contrary to the perception of Rousseau as a radical — a view again largely based on The Social Contract — in The Government of Poland Rousseau displays caution and conservatism: "Never forget, as you dream of what you wish to gain, what you might lose." In the early 1770's, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was in a particularly challenging situation, threatened by its neighbors on all sides,... less