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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

‘Rousseau’s political philosophy contains the seeds of Socialism, Absolutism and Democracy.’ Comment.

  • UPSC 2004
  • Enlightenment and Modern Ideas

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's thought is famous for pulling in several directions at once — a single body of writing that later inspired egalitarian revolutionaries, Jacobin terror, and liberal-democratic theory alike.

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What the full answer covers

  • Seeds of Socialism: The Critique of Property and Inequality
  • Seeds of Democracy: Popular Sovereignty and the Social Contract
  • Seeds of Absolutism: The Danger Within the General Will
  • A Complicating Twist: Rousseau's Own Distrust of "Pure Democracy"

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