Colonization and Democracy

Tocqueville Reconsidered

Bibliographic Data

ID4841872
AuthorsEwa Atanassow (0000-0002-9630-2032, Bard College Berlin, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume111
Issue1
Pages83-96
Publication date2017-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003055416000630
OpenAlexW2589638543
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited46

The prominence of colonization in Tocqueville's life and works has been widely noted, yet scholars disagree about its importance. The perceived tension between Tocqueville's analysis of democracy and his advocacy of colonization continues to be the subject of heated scholarly debate. Revisiting Tocqueville's analytical and practical engagement with colonization, this essay reexamines its relationship to Tocqueville's account of democracy. It argues that, while lending political support to the French empire, Tocqueville was a clairvoyant critic of colonial rule; and that his involvement with colonization could only be properly understood in light of the historical and civilizational vista that informs his oeuvre as a whole. Proposing that Tocqueville viewed European expansionism as an instrument of the global movement toward democratic equality, the essay concludes with an assessment of the significance of Tocqueville's colonial writings for his "new political science," and their relevance today

Colonialism · Colonization · Democracy · Empire · Expansionism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Relevance (law · Sociology · Subject (documents · American Constitutional Law and Politics · European Political History Analysis · History · Law · Political Theory and Influence