The Concept of Power in “The Social Contract” of Jean Jacques Rousseau

Mayanja, Edouard Kanyike (1990) The Concept of Power in “The Social Contract” of Jean Jacques Rousseau. PhD thesis, Facultes catholiques de kinshasa.

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Abstract

While winds of change blow in Western Europe, Africa is violently trying to shake dictators off her shoulders. It has been found out, after decades of bitter wars, famine, disease, underdevelopment - all of which are results of misrule - that the key problem in Africa is politics. In the 18th century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau blamed governments for sinking mankind in misery. Three centuries later, the same conviction persists: people suffer because they are badly governed. The self-proclaimed benefactors of Africa, whom some people refer to as donnors of poisoned gifts, have imposed their own political systems as a condition for future aid and African rulers, however unwillingly, have sluggishly embarked on democratization in the western sense of the word; a process that will kick most of them off the political scene. African politics, a mixture of distorted traditional and modern politics, has developed into first class dictatorship. Presidents or prime Ministers, while keeping these titles, are ruling as monarchs or tribal chiefs over societies that are the product of the colonial regroupings of different ethnic groups into artificial entities now called republics. It is thus clear why civil wars and military coups have characterized African politics for the last few decades. As a matter of fact most of the actual heads of state in Africa are soldiers who somehow managed to impose their rule in the machiavellian style. States have become their own private property. Not only have they bled their countries to the last drop but they have also sold them to foreign powers for personal gain to the detriment of the masses soaked in poverty and misery.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe)
Divisions:	Africana
Depositing User:	Geoffrey Obatsa
Date Deposited:	02 Oct 2017 06:55
Last Modified:	02 Oct 2017 06:55
URI:	http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/2440

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