Rousseau believed that people could live in peace without a government as long as they all treated each other equally. However, in his society there was a large amount of inequality because of the way that money and property were distributed. The wealthy men tricked the poor by creating a government that protected the property and money of the rich, which the less fortunate people had been trying to scrounge back.
To try to counteract the wealthy taking advantage of the poor, Rousseau thought it would be a good idea to set up the government as a monarchy or an aristocracy. In a perfect world, the best way to include everyone's opinion within the society would have been to let everyone rule as they please, but this obviously would not have worked. The government proposed by Rousseau gave leaders the responsibility of acting on behalf of the general will of the people and speaking for them when necessary. He also said that a single ruler with absolute power was allowable when direly needed, but only temporarily.
Rousseau's ideas about government were somewhat similar to those of Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu. Hobbes believe that the role of the government was to protect people and represent them, as Rousseau also believed. Montesquieu thought that government should be a democracy, so that no one person consumes all of the power, which is also very similar to Rousseau's opinions. Locke was in favor of the checks and balances system. This can also relate to how Rousseau thought things should work because in this system, no single person can have to much power.
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