key thinker: jean-jacques rousseau

main ideas:

• general will: govt should be based on the indivisible collective will of the ‘community’ and that nations have the right to govern themselves

• civic nationalism: the state is legit coz it’s based on the active participation of its citizens

• the govt should respond to n enact the wishes of the ppl instead over directing the people

“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”