Social contract
Etymology
From the Latin "contractus," a drawing-together or agreement. The idea runs through Hobbes and Locke but takes its name from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s 1762 treatise "Du contrat social," which grounded legitimate authority in the collective consent of the governed rather than in force or divine right.
noun phrase · /SOH-shul KON-trakt/
The idea that political authority rests on an implicit agreement among people to give up some freedoms in exchange for order and mutual protection.
What it names
The foundational handle for asking why any government has the right to rule you — and what it owes you in return for your obedience.
Example
When the state fails to provide basic safety, people begin to feel the social contract has been broken on its side first.
Related idea
Distinct from sovereignty, the supreme authority a state actually holds; the social contract is the moral story about where that authority is supposed to come from and why it may be revoked.