STATE

FORMATION
C O N S T I T U T I O N A L L AW V I S - À - V I S S O C I A L
CONTRACT THEORY
WHERE DID THE STATE COME FROM?
SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY
SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY

• Social contract theory is the view that persons' moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon
a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live.

• Socrates uses something quite like a social contract argument to explain to Crito why he must remain
in prison and accept the death penalty.

• However, social contract theory is rightly associated with modern moral and political theory and is
given its first full exposition and defense by Thomas Hobbes. After Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-
Jacques Rousseau are the best known proponents of this enormously influential theory, which has
been one of the most dominant theories within moral and political theory.
SOCRATES & SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY
SOCRATES & SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY

• In Plato’s Crito, Socrates lays the foundation for what would be known as the Social Contract
Theory. The theory states that there is an unspoken agreement between the individual and the
state. The state will provide the protections and benefits of society. In exchange, the individual
will give up certain freedoms and will submit to whatever punishments the society decides for
them.
SOCIAL CONTRACT & SOCRATES’ DENIAL OF ESCAPING
SOCIAL CONTRACT & SOCRATES’ DENIAL OF ESCAPING

https://www.slideserve.com/tryna/the-crito
THOMAS HOBBES
THOMAS HOBBES: LEVIATHAN (1651)

https://study.com/academy/lesson/thomas-hobbes-leviathan-sum
mary-quotes-analysis.html
CONSOLIDATED POWER TO PROTECT US FROM LEVIATHAN!
MODERN VERSION!
LEVIATHAN
JOHN LOCKE & TWO TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT
SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT & SOCIAL CONTRACT
TOMMY VERSUS JOHNNY!
TOMMY VERSUS JOHNNY!
EVERYONE AGAINST EVERYONE!
THE SOCIAL CONTRACT AND GOVERNMENT

• The fundamental basis for government and law in this system is the concept of the social contract, according to
which human beings begin as individuals in a state of nature, and create a society by establishing a contract
whereby they agree to live together in harmony for their mutual benefit, after which they are said to live in a
state of society. This contract involves the retaining of certain natural rights, an acceptance of restrictions of
certain liberties, the assumption of certain duties, and the pooling of certain powers to be exercised collectively.
• The social contract is very simple. It has only two basic terms: (1) mutual defense of rights; and (2) mutual
decision by deliberative assembly. There are no agents, no officials, that persist from one deliberative assembly
to another.
• There may be customs that persist from assembly to assembly, such as customs for due notice, parliamentary
procedure, judicial due process, and enforcement of court orders by militia. This second term could be called the
constitution of society, but it precedes a constitution of government and should not be confused with it.

https://www.constitution.org/soclcont.htm
CONSTITUTION & SOCIAL CONTRACT

• We, the people of Bangladesh, having proclaimed our independence on the 26th day of March,
1971 and through a historic struggle for national liberation, established the independent,
sovereign People's Republic of Bangladesh;
• …
• In our Constituent Assembly, this eighteenth day of Kartick, 1379 B.S., corresponding to the
fourth day of November, 1972 A.D., do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this
Constitution.
YUVAL NOAH HARARI ON FICTION AND SOCIETY

• The truly unique trait of Sapiens is our ability to create and believe fiction. All other animals
use their communication system to describe reality. We use our communication system to
create new realities. Of course not all fictions are shared by all humans, but at least one has
become universal in our world, and this is money. Dollar bills have absolutely no value except
in our collective imagination, but everybody believes in the dollar bill.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-makes-hum
ans-different-fiction-and-cooperation-180953986/
YUVAL NOAH HARARI
NATION AS A IMAGINED COMMUNITY

• Benedict Anderson wrote on nation as a imagined community.