From the imperative of political virtue to Rousseau's preference for an aristocratic government

In Rousseau's political theory, if the form of government matters little, as long as it remains subordinate to the sovereign, the Genevan philosopher nevertheless seems to give his preference to an aristocratic type of government in order to meet this requirement. Faced with the difficulty of meeting the supposed conditions of democratic government and establishing political virtue as the principle of a truly democratic society, the reasoning of the Genevan seems to lead him to think of the government of the aristocratic type as the best of all, with magistrates who govern for the common good and execute the general will without tending to embody it : an enaretocratic government, based on the political virtue of its magistrates. This government can be received as a privileged expedient to neutralize the oligarchical ferments of any political society. The modernity of the Genevan philosopher's thought lies in the fact that it opens up possibilities in terms of political practice.