Beyond Tocqueville

An interdisciplinary collection of historical and comparative articles on civil society and the social capital debate.

This collection of essays by French and American historians testifies to the enduring importance of Alexis de Tocqueville's The Old Regime and the French Revolution, first published in 1856. Highly original in its day and now recognized as a classic, The Old Regime has since the 1970s stimulated considerable research and improved our understanding of the French Old Regime. Tocqueville and Beyond joins this trend to offer both an appreciation and critique of Tocqueville's remarkable book. From the wide-ranging perspectives of privileged nobles, men of letters, rural life, and the evolution of centralization and liberty in France as well as the Dutch Republic, these essays attest to the continuing significance of Tocqueville's classic study.

Alexis de Tocqueville famously wrote about democracy in America, but he also lauded Catholic society in Quebec, feared the nationalism he saw in Germany, and controversially defended French colonization of Algeria. Jeremy Jennings traces Tocqueville's lesser-known travels, recovering the wider insights of one of history's great political thinkers.

Tocqueville on America after 1840 provides access to Tocqueville's views on American politics from 1840 to 1859, revealing his shift in thinking and growing disenchantment with America.

This collection of essays uses Alexis de Tocqueville's writings to explore the dilemmas of democratization in the twenty-first century.

Tocqueville's Voyages is a collection of Newly written essays by some of the most well-known Tocquevillian scholars today. The essays in the fisrt part of the volume explore the development of Tocqueville's thought, his intellectual voyage during his trip to America and while writing Domocracy in America. The second part of the book focuses on the dissemination of Tocqueville's ideas beyond the Franco-American contect of 1835-1840 in places such as Argentina, Japan and Eastern Europe. This book gives readers unprecedented access to the development of Tocqueville's thought as seen through the eyes of preeminent Tocquevillian scholars. Not only do the essays shed fresh light on the ideas in Democracy in America, but they also invite readers to reassess previous interpretations of Tocqueville's great work and to consider its continued relevance to the world.

Founders of Modern Political and Social Thought present critical examinations of the work of major political philosphers and social theorists, assessing both their initial contribution and continuing relevance to politics and society. Each volume provides a clear, accessible, historically-informed account of each thinker's work, focusing on a reassessment of their central ideas and arguments. Founders encourage scholars and students to link their study of classic texts to current debates in political philosophy and social theory. Alexis de Tocqueville is one of the most topical and debated figures in contemporary political and social theory. This clear new introduction to de Tocqueville's thought examines in detail his classic works and their major themes. Welch argues thet Tocqueville's major themes tap into deep anxieties about democratic practices and his writings help us to identify the major fault lines in democracy at the turn of the new century. Beginning with a consideration of Tocqueville's distinctiveness against the historical background and intellectual context of his time, Welch goes on to trace the development of his thought on democracy and revolution, history, slavery, religion, and gender, including chapters dealing with his writings on France and the United States. The final chapter then explores Tocqueville's historical legacy and his contemporary significance, illuminating the reasons why this displaced nineteenth century aristocrat has become one of the most topical figures in contemporary political and social theory.