Though I definitely agree with Danielle’s point that there is a connection between Hitler’s fascist state, and the ideas based in the theory of the general will; it seems obvious that there is a connection between the general will and all states—people generally tend to form opinions about most things, and even without the right to, some will express their feelings. I would like to add to Danielle’s point, and say that the link between Rousseau and Fascism is an opposing link. According to Mussolini’s
“What is Fascism” “Fascism combats the whole complex system of democratic ideology, and repudiates it, whether in its theoretical premises or in its practical application. Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern by means of a periodical consultation, and it affirms the immutable, beneficial, and fruitful inequality of mankind, which can never be permanently leveled through the mere operation of a mechanical process such as universal suffrage.” In case you both lost your sheets that Cas gave us, here is a nice definition of fascism.
the two philosophers that I would give credit to for the idea of fascism are Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Nietzsche. In Hegel’s discussion of the state he uses the metaphor of the human body, in which the humans are individuals that only serve true purpose or function, when they are part of the whole, the whole being the state. To me, it seems like this is directly influenced by Hobbes, rather than by Rousseau.