Alexis de Tocqueville
Equality can lead to a gentle power that takes from citizens the habit of governing themselves.
Life
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), a French aristocrat, magistrate and later deputy, travelled to the United States in 1831-1832 and drew from it an analysis of modern democracy. He saw in equality of conditions an irresistible force that can protect liberty but can also lead to a gentle, centralised power and to the isolation of individuals. He later studied the French Revolution as the outcome of a much older centralisation.
Main works
An analysis of American society: equality of conditions transforms ideas, customs and politics, with its promises and its dangers.
Argues that the Revolution continued the monarchy's centralisation more than it broke it.
In his own words
« Above these men stands an immense and protective power, which alone undertakes to secure their enjoyments and to watch over their fate. It is absolute, detailed, regular, far-seeing and mild. »
« Equality has prepared men for all these things; it has disposed them to bear them and often even to regard them as a benefit. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe holds that democracy must balance equality with liberty, and fears a soft despotism that makes citizens give up governing themselves.
Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835-1840)