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DEMOCRACY TODAY
John Stuart Mill. [1] Others consider him as a liberal conservative. [2] Still
others discover republican traits in his work. [3] But roughly speaking,
there are two major views of Tocqueville’s notion of freedom. One is
that all in all Tocqueville belongs to the liberal family which regards
individual (natural) rights and liberties both as the foundation of society
and as the source of political legitimacy. In this view, conservatism
and some communitarian concerns may be seen as complements to
this general liberal discourse. The other view is more radical. It considers
Tocqueville as not being liberal at all – or at least, not liberal in
the specific modern sense. [4] Rather, to use Skinner’s expression, the
“freedom” Tocqueville constantly refers to relates more to a “free state”
than to “free individuals.” [5] It is “political freedom” that Tocqueville
dwells upon in his work most of the time.
However, it has become relatively clear through recent studies on
Tocqueville’s writings – i.e. on his writings about empire and colonialism
– that he could safely be characterized as a thinker much more
“republican” than “liberal.” Taking into account Tocqueville’s support
of France’s empire-building policies and his famous writings on these
issues, we have come to understand that, e.g., the discourse on universal
human rights is absolutely not at the core of his political thought. It
is even clearer, moreover, that he never based his political views on a
natural rights doctrine although it already existed and was even popular
at the time of his writing. The reason he gives for his support of France’s
1
See, for instance, Jack Lively, The Social and Political Philosophy of Tocqueville. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1962. Roger Boesche, Tocqueville’s Road Map: Methodology,
Liberalism, Revolution, and Despotism. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2006.
2
See, for instance, Bruce Frohnen, Virtue and the Promise of Conservatism: The Legacy of
Burke and Tocqueville. Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1993.
3
See, for instance, Sheldon Wolin, Tocqueville between two Worlds: The Making of a Political
and Theoretical Life. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. Bruce James Smith,
Politics and Remembrance: Republican Themes in Machiavelli, Burke and Tocqueville. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1985.
4
Tocqueville himself once said that he is a “liberal of the new kind.” However, it should
be noted that here the term “liberal” refers more to the “liberal” party that existed in
French at the time.
5
It’s worth mentioning here that Tocqueville does not oppose the idea of “free individuals”
and equal rights at all. The rhetoric is used here to make the point that Tocqueville’s
notion of freedom is in a sense “larger” than the “natural” or “private” freedom that is
entertained by classical liberal theory.