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Colonization and Democracy: Tocqueville Reconsidered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

EWA ATANASSOW
EWA ATANASSOW*
Affiliation:
Bard College Berlin
*
Ewa Atanassow is Junior Professor of Political Thought at Bard College Berlin, Platanenstr. 24, 13156 Berlin, Germany (e.atanassow@berlin.bard.edu).
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Abstract

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.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 111 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 83 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2017 

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Footnotes

I thank Thomas Bartscherer, Harald Bluhm, Alan Kahan, Ira Katznelson, Robert Keohane, Margaret Litvin, and Harvey Mansfield for their encouragement and inestimable comments on earlier versions of this text. I also thank the four anonymous reviewers and the editorial team of this journal for the challenging and constructive criticism.

References

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