De Tocqueville

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville and how they might illuminate the nation-building effort now taking place in Iraq or the need to address the provision of disaster relief in the region of the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina. The paper continues by pointing out that these are two issues de Tocqueville knew nothing about but which do reflect certain elements in his analysis of American society.

From the Paper:

"One of the earliest analyses of American culture was that of Alexis de Tocqueville, a French visitor who traveled the country in 1835 and 1840 and commented on what he saw and experienced. What he writes raises issues of the meaning of democracy, the society that can support democracy, and some of the ways each may change over time. While De Tocqueville knew nothing of the nation-building effort now taking place in Iraq or the need to address the provision of disaster relief in the region of the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina, his ideas about how democracy works are cogent and applicable to the way the United States government is responding to each of these issues. The social condition of equality is the moving force and principle of democratic regimes, and for de Tocqueville this is the fundamental fact from which all others must be derived."

More papers on De Tocqueville:

• Analytical Essay # 119794 : "Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America"
• Essay # 52568 : "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville"
• Analytical Essay # 128858 : "Alexis de Tocqueville on Racism"
• Analytical Essay # 67001 : "Alexis De Tocqueville in the 21st Century"

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