It is well-known that the cornerstone of democracy is that sovereignty belongs to the people (popular sovereignty). Benjamin Franklin famously said, “In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns.”[1] This is why the US Constitution begins, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”[2] The idea of popular sovereignty has its roots in medieval Europe during the age of ‘enlightenment’. As mentioned earlier, this post-renaissance period saw a number of philosophers, develop political theories in response to the tyranny of the catholic church, and the absolute monarchs who ruled on their behalf by ‘divine right’. These thinkers therefore, developed models which would curtail the influence of religion, and limit the powers of the monarchy. One such theory, developed by Hobbes, Locke and Rosseau, is … Continue reading Is the bay’ah a “social contract”?