“Sovereignty, for the same reason as makes it inalienable, cannot be represented; it lies essentially in the general will, and will does not admit of representation.”Jean-Jacques Rousseau · Contractul social · 1762 · Cartea III, capitolul 15
The general will cannot be delegated: deputies execute decisions, but they cannot will in the people's place.
Rousseau separates the general will from a mere majority of private interests. Will, as an act of conscience, belongs only to the one who holds it; others can carry out decisions, but cannot make them in your place. So deputies are not representatives of the sovereign, only its agents: the people remain sovereign and must deliberate themselves. England, he says, is free only during elections.
If will cannot be delegated, then referendums and direct voting are not eccentricities but the only forms in which sovereignty truly exists. Delegation is acceptable only for execution: a mayor can apply a rule, but cannot decide, in your place, what the common good means. Think of a building of tenants: the manager can pay the bills, but the decision to renovate the staircase must be made by everyone. Rousseau thus forces us to clearly distinguish between governing and being sovereign. The next question: what actually remains of our collective will between two elections?
Why it matters It still poses a live question: how much can we delegate to politicians before losing our own collective will?