Answer: social contract
Explanation: The social contract refers to the consent given by citizens to the government or state to exercise authority over them. It is the consensus of the people, perceived as a collective society, to legitimise the system of governance as a supplement for, and representative of, their individual free will.
For example, in viewing the police through the lens of social contract theory, police derive their authority from the people. They are an organisation of the state, justified to preserve order, safety and security through the use of force. The public depend on the police to embody their societal values; that is, they rely on police to assert and defend the moral structure and re-establish social order when it is threatened. The law, as an authority of the state, articulates these societal values so if an individual or a group operates contrary to them, they are considered to be breaking the social contract and, therefore, breaking the law. The preservation of the social contract requires a reaction – in general, policing; police, therefore, are the enforcers or the output of the social contract.