In Rousseau's political theory, the will of the citizens as a body aimed at the common good, which a state must follow to be legitimate; it is distinguished from the sum of private wills.
In more detail
Rousseau set out the idea in The Social Contract (1762), where he argued that sovereignty belongs to the people and cannot be represented. Interpretations differ: some see a participatory ideal of self-rule, others a route to coercion of dissenters. The idea influenced later theories of popular sovereignty.