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Subjects · Leaving Cert Politics & Society

Leaving Cert Politics & Society: Rules, laws & the social contract

How often Rules, laws & the social contract comes up on the Politics & Society papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.

HL Asked on 4 of the last 7 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2025.

OL Asked on 6 of the last 7 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2025. most years

Rules, laws & the social contract, Higher Level(6 marks)

Quick ones on Rules, laws & the social contract.

(a)Hobbes said life in the state of nature is 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and ...' what?
  1. cruel
  2. short
  3. endless
(b)In Hobbes's social contract, what do people hand over, and to whom?
  1. Their vote, to a monarch limited by law
  2. Their property, to an elected parliament
  3. Their natural liberty, to an absolute sovereign
(c)Which three natural rights did John Locke say government exists to protect?
  1. Life, liberty and property
  2. Liberty, equality and fraternity
  3. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
Show the answers

(a) short

(b) Their natural liberty, to an absolute sovereign

(c) Life, liberty and property

Your turn: Higher Level questions on Rules, laws & the social contract.

Higher Level

Asked on 4 of the last 7 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2025.

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2025Q1c, Q1f, Q2
2024Not asked
2023Q1k, Q4a
2022Not asked
2021Q3
2019Not asked
2018Q1a, Q3

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More Rules, laws & the social contract questions

Rules, laws & the social contract, 2 marks

In which 1974 book did Robert Nozick set out his libertarian view of the state?

  1. A Theory of Justice
  2. The Road to Serfdom
  3. Anarchy, State, and Utopia
Show the answer

Anarchy, State, and Utopia

Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) defends the minimal state. A Theory of Justice is by John Rawls, whom Nozick criticised; The Road to Serfdom is by Hayek.

Rules, laws & the social contract, 2 marks

In social contract theory, what is the 'state of nature'?

  1. Society ruled by a hereditary monarch
  2. Human life imagined without any government
  3. A country's stock of natural resources
Show the answer

Human life imagined without any government

Contract thinkers imagine life before or without a state, then ask why people would agree to be governed. Hobbes and Locke paint it very differently.

Rules, laws & the social contract, 3 marks

Why did Hobbes think the state of nature would be a war of all against all?

  1. Equal, self-interested people compete with no ruler
  2. Kings forced their subjects to fight
  3. Property rights were too strongly protected
Show the answer

Equal, self-interested people compete with no ruler

For Hobbes, roughly equal people competing for scarce goods, with no common power to keep them in awe, live in constant fear. Only a sovereign ends it.

Ordinary Level

Asked on 6 of the last 7 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2025. most years

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2025Q1s
2024Q8
2023Q1r
2022Q8, Q9
2021Q1d
2019Not asked
2018Q4

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More Rules, laws & the social contract questions

Rules, laws & the social contract, 2 marks

Which thinker said life without government would be 'nasty, brutish and short'?

  1. John Locke
  2. Robert Nozick
  3. Thomas Hobbes
Show the answer

Thomas Hobbes

In Leviathan (1651) Hobbes argued that without a strong ruler people live in fear and constant conflict, so they hand their freedom to a sovereign in return for security.

Rules, laws & the social contract, 2 marks

What is the 'social contract'?

  1. A promise by parties to cut taxes
  2. People give up some freedom to a government for protection
  3. A written deal between a trade union and employers
Show the answer

People give up some freedom to a government for protection

Hobbes and Locke both used the idea: people accept rules and a government so everyone gains order and security. Locke added that government needs the consent of the people.

Rules, laws & the social contract, 2 marks

John Locke said everyone has natural rights to what?

  1. Life, liberty and property
  2. Free housing, healthcare and education
  3. Obedience, order and security
Show the answer

Life, liberty and property

Locke (Two Treatises of Government, 1689) said government exists to protect these rights, rests on the consent of the people, and can be resisted if it abuses its power.

Other Politics & Society topics

All of Leaving Cert Politics & Society