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This collection of essays is an invaluable companion for understanding the composition, reception, and contemporary legacy of Alexis de Tocqueville's classic work Democracy in America. Chapters by political theorists, intellectual historians, economists, political scientists, and community organizers explore the major intellectual influences on Tocqueville's thought, the book's reception in its own day and by subsequent political thinkers, and its enduring relevance for some of today's most pressing issues. Chapters tackle Tocqueville's insights into liberal democracy, civil society and civic engagement, social reform, religion and politics, free markets, constitutional interpretation, the history of slavery and race relations, gender, literature, and foreign policy. The many ways in which Tocqueville's ideas have been taken up – sometimes at cross-purposes – by subsequent thinkers and political actors around the world are also examined. This volume demonstrates the enduring global significance of one of the most perceptive accounts ever written about American democracy and the future prospects for self-government.
Introduction: Revisiting 'Democracy in America' in the Twenty-First Century Richard Boyd
Part I. Sources and Contexts:
1. Tocqueville and the Philosophy of the Enlightenment Ryan Patrick Hanley
2. Tocqueville's Dialogues Aurelian Craiutu
3. Fugitive Aristocracy: Tocqueville's Search for Remnants of the Ancien Régime Richard Avramenko
Part II. Receptions and Applications:
4. Tocqueville's Conservatism and the Conservative's Tocqueville Richard Boyd
5. Tocqueville and the Political Left in America: Heeding a Call for Decisive Action Robert T. Gannett, Jr.
6. Democracy in the (Other) America José Antonio Aguilar Rivera
7. Tocqueville in Japan and China: Readings and Questions James T. Schleifer
8. Tocqueville and Anti-Americanism Alan Levine
Part III. Genres and Themes:
9. 'Ideas for the Intellect and Emotions for the Heart': The Literary Dimensions of Democracy in America Christine Dunn Henderson
10. Tocquevillian Association and the Market Rachael K. Behr and Virgil Henry Storr
11. Tocqueville on the Federal Constitution Jeremy D. Bailey
12. Religion in Democracy in America Carson Holloway
13. Tocqueville's Puritans Joshua Mitchell
Part IV. Democracy's Enduring Challenges:
14. Tocqueville's American Girls: Women, Manners, and the Engendering of Democracy Eileen Hunt Botting
15. Picturing American Democracy: Tocqueville, Morrison, and the 'Three Races' Lawrie Balfour
16. Democracy in America in the Twenty-First Century: New Challenges of Diversity and Inequality Rogers M. Smith.
Description
This collection of essays is an invaluable companion for understanding the composition, reception, and contemporary legacy of Alexis de Tocqueville's classic work Democracy in America. Chapters by political theorists, intellectual historians, economists, political scientists, and community organizers explore the major intellectual influences on Tocqueville's thought, the book's reception in its own day and by subsequent political thinkers, and its enduring relevance for some of today's most pressing issues. Chapters tackle Tocqueville's insights into liberal democracy, civil society and civic engagement, social reform, religion and politics, free markets, constitutional interpretation, the history of slavery and race relations, gender, literature, and foreign policy. The many ways in which Tocqueville's ideas have been taken up – sometimes at cross-purposes – by subsequent thinkers and political actors around the world are also examined. This volume demonstrates the enduring global significance of one of the most perceptive accounts ever written about American democracy and the future prospects for self-government.
