De Tocqueville grew up in a time when the nation was ideologically split
between loyaltists of the monarchy and anti-monarchists. Although liberals
were marked as anti-monarchists in general, there was current of so-called Doctrinaireswho
Tocqueville felt affiliated to. This group proposed the idea of installing
the constitutional monarchy as a compromise between monarchy and republic,
while extending the census suffrage to the entire middle class and
liberalizing the legislature. Furthermore, they propagated the extension of
the education system, aiming at raising the general level of education among
the people in order to mold citizens who could take the responsibility to
vote.
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The socio-political circumstances in Tocqueville's life have to be
considered when evaluating his use of the notion 'democracy' in his
descriptions of the American political system. Does this term denote the
levelling off of society? Does Tocqueville think of the reign of uncontrolled
masses, or does he contemplate political equality in terms of common
suffrage? Legal and political notions of democracy are opposed to each other.
De Tocqueville uses the term in different connotations, but the French idea
of democracy did not include the common notion of 'government of the people
by the people'. In France the revolution had produced a democracy consisting
primarily of elemination of privileges and class order of the Ancien
Régime. Hence, most French perceived democracy as a new form of social
order, which, compared with the old aristocratic order, could be
characterized by the abolition of rigid hierarchic order with its typical
traditional distribution of power and privileges. Although class differences
persist within democracy, social mobility is one characteristic feature of
democracy.
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Tocqueville's concept of democracy changed throughout the time. In 1830
he regarded democracy as a dynamic process, which required an 'equality of conditions'.
In his view the democratic process - i.e. the change of social order - would
come to a halt when all political priviledges were eradicated. Later, in his
second volume of Democracy in America, which was published in
1840, a more negative image of democracy prevailed: that of a levelling power
which would not be restricted to social order, but which would also challenge
the right of material property. Furthermore, he saw the danger that democracy
could level any intellectual or individualistic distinctions. The notion of
'tyranny of the masses' formed in Tocqueville's mind.
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Beside this sociologic observation, liberty is a reocurring notion in
Tocqueville's understanding of democracy. The way he uses this notion implies
that he interprets liberty not only as protection from the abuse of
governmental power, but more as a positivistic idea of liberty as an asset
which each citizen is obliged to make active use of. On the other hand he
sees the necessity to restrict individual liberty and to "regulate it by
believes, mores and laws." This is meant when he talks about 'liberté
modérée'. Tocqueville's liberalism is characterized by the defence of
liberty against authority, but also by defence of authority against liberty.
Moreover, Tocqueville favors the classic theory of representation, like his
friend John Stuart Mill, who advised a system in which the citizens should
elect the most capable among themselves to represent them. The problem for
France was that the population did not consist of responsible citizens which
were necessary for the desired liberal system. The French people had proved
during the years after the revolution that it was not able to exert their
democratic rights. Still Tocqueville believed it would be possible to educate
the people to transform them into citizens and to change the political
culture in France.
see also: De Tocqueville's Observations of American Democracy |
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