Key Arguments

• Rousseau recalls and applies his prior quantitative principle: 'If, in the different States, the number of supreme magistrates should be in inverse ratio to the number of citizens,' taking this relation as given from the previous chapter.
• From this inverse ratio he directly infers a matching of forms to state size: 'it follows that, generally, democratic government suits small States, aristocratic government those of middle size, and monarchy great ones.'
• He underscores the logical status of this conclusion: 'This rule is immediately deducible from the principle laid down,' presenting it as a straightforward consequence of his earlier argument about the relation between population and number of rulers.
• He immediately qualifies the generality of this rule by noting the complexity of real cases: 'But it is impossible to count the innumerable circumstances which may', indicating that contingent factors can affect its application.

Source Quotes

There has been at all times much dispute concerning the best form of government, without consideration of the fact that each is in some cases the best, and in others the worst. If, in the different States, the number of supreme magistrates should be in inverse ratio to the number of citizens, it follows that, generally, democratic government suits small States, aristocratic government those of middle size, and monarchy great ones. This rule is immediately deducible from the principle laid down.

If, in the different States, the number of supreme magistrates should be in inverse ratio to the number of citizens, it follows that, generally, democratic government suits small States, aristocratic government those of middle size, and monarchy great ones. This rule is immediately deducible from the principle laid down. But it is impossible to count the innumerable circumstances which may

This rule is immediately deducible from the principle laid down. But it is impossible to count the innumerable circumstances which may

Key Concepts

• If, in the different States, the number of supreme magistrates should be in inverse ratio to the number of citizens, it follows that, generally, democratic government suits small States, aristocratic government those of middle size, and monarchy great ones.
• This rule is immediately deducible from the principle laid down.
• But it is impossible to count the innumerable circumstances which may

Context

Concluding sentences of Book III, Chapter III (in the given extract), where Rousseau uses his earlier quantitative analysis of government to derive a general matching of governmental form to the size of the state, while acknowledging that countless particular circumstances qualify the rule.