Alexis de Tocqueville and the liberal critique of democracy

  What is the nature of Constant's distinction between ancient and modern liberty and how does this distinction inform the constitutional recommendations Constant makes in his Principles of Politics? How important do you think Constant's arguments are? Liberalism and democracy are frequently supposed to fit together very well – it seems natural to talk of ‘liberal democracy’, for example. Yet despite this apparent affinity, liberals have often been suspicious of democracy and its perceived dangers. Perhaps nowhere is this tension between liberalism and democracy more evident than in Democracy in America, a huge study produced by Alexis de Tocqueville after this young French aristocrat had travelled around the United States. A key concept developed by Tocqueville is that of ‘the tyranny of the majority’, later taken up by John Stuart Mill. Amongst other things, reading Tocqueville provides an opportunity to think about how liberals responded to the development of democratic politics, and to consider wider issues about the relation between the individual and the community. Seminar Discussion Questions • How does Tocqueville characterise democracy and what does he think are its defects and dangers? • Does Tocqueville see any advantages to democratic government? • What is ‘the tyranny of the majority’ and how, if at all, does Tocqueville think it can be avoided? • How does Tocqueville think freedom can be established? • What place does the individual have in Tocqueville’s thought? • What does Tocqueville say about freedom of speech? • How and why has the role of the state changed in modern times according to Tocqueville? Key reading A Tocqueville Democracy in America, especially volume I, part 1, chapter 7 and volume II, part 4, chapters 5-8. There are many editions of Democracy in America. The most complete is the bilingual version produced by Liberty Fund. But for our purposes, the Penguin edition is perfectly adequate. The Chicago University Press edition is a very good translation. Additional reading A Tocqueville The Tocqueville Reader, ed O Zunz and A Kahan [useful selection of Tocqueville’s writings] A Tocqueville TheAncien Regime and the French Revolution A Tocqueville Journeys to England and Ireland A Tocqueville Recollections Aurelian Craiutu & Jeremy Jennings (eds), Tocqueville on Americaafter 1840. C Welch De Tocqueville (good introductory text) L SiedentopTocqueville(another good introductory text) J Lively The Social and Political Thought of Alexis de Tocqueville (an old classic!) K Masugi (ed) Interpreting Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (collection of essays mostly on Tocqueville’s politics) W Pope Alexis de Tocqueville: His Social and Political Theory S DrescherDilemmas of Democracy: Tocqueville and Modernisation J LambertiTocqueville and the Two Democracies S WolinTocqueville Between Two Worlds (very demanding and not for beginners) R AronMain Currents in Sociological Thought, volume I, chapter 4 A Tessitori ‘Alexis de Tocqueville on the Natural State of Religion in the Age of Democracy’, The Journal of Politics 64:4 (2002) R BoescheThe Strange Liberalism of Alexis de Tocqueville (a very original take on Tocqueville) A JardinTocqueville: A Biography J Madison, A Hamilton and J Jay The Federalist [key document of the American Revolution and an important resource for Tocqueville] J S Mill ‘M de Tocqueville on Democracy in America’, in Dissertations and Discussions