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Why did Rousseau believe laws based on the general will could support freedom?

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English philosopher Thomas Hobbes — social contract Thomas Hobbes, detail of an oil painting by John Michael Wright; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

In his political philosophy, Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that freedom and authority are not contradictory because legitimate laws are founded on the general will of the citizens.1

Rousseau believed that in a state governed by a genuine social contract, individuals exchange their natural independence for a higher form of liberty: true political or republican liberty. Because the general will represents the collective interest of the people aiming at the common good, it is considered intrinsically right.231

Consequently, when a citizen obeys a law derived from the general will, they are essentially obeying themselves as a member of the political community. Rousseau famously described this as "forcing him to be free," meaning that when an individual is coerced into following the law, they are being restored to an awareness of their own true interests as a citizen, rather than being enslaved by their personal passions. In this framework, the law acts as a self-imposed rule that preserves civil liberty and autonomy rather than restricting it.12