MacIver’s Conception of the “General Will”: Reconfiguring Popular Sovereignty and Collective Political Purpose R.M. MacIver’s interpretation of the “general will,” particularly as articulated in The Modern State and The Web of Government, marks a significant normative intervention in the theory of popular sovereignty and the ethical underpinnings of the modern state. In asserting that the … Continue reading How does MacIver’s conception of the “general will” as not merely the will of the state but a will for the state reshape our understanding of popular sovereignty and collective political purpose?