Constitutional Project for Corsica
Rousseau imagines institutions for Corsica as it seeks to preserve independence. He connects citizenship, agriculture, population distribution, and limits on luxury. Political freedom requires an economic basis reducing external dependency.
Understanding the text
Written in response to a Corsican request, it remained a proposal rather than an implemented constitution. Its program belongs within eighteenth-century Mediterranean relations.
Unfinished project of 1765, published in 1861. Written in response to a Corsican request, it remained a proposal rather than an implemented constitution. Its program belongs within eighteenth-century Mediterranean relations.
Key points
- 01
Economy and freedom
Political autonomy also depends on a population’s needs, exchanges, and resources.
- 02
Territory and citizenship
The distribution of inhabitants shapes participation and institutional organization.
- 03
A conditional model
Prescriptions answer particular circumstances and do not automatically apply everywhere.
How to read it
Distinguish the information available to Rousseau from his assumptions about Corsican society.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗