After Tocqueville
Subtitle: The Promise and Failure of Democracy
By: Chilton Williamson
Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Wilmington, Del
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9781610170222
Subjects: Philosophy; Political science; History..; Democracy; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Democracy; Influence; History
Description: "When Alexis de Tocqueville wrote his seminal work Democracy in America (1835), he regarded democracy as the future of the West. Subsequent events, from the collapse of communism to the recent popular uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, seem to confirm his prescience. But a closer look at the history of democracy from the 1830s down to the present reveals a far more complicated picture. In fact, author Chilton Williamson Jr. concludes, the future appears rather unpromising for democratic institutions around the world. After Tocqueville traces that history and examines that future. Williamson shows that in Europe democracy has tended toward socialism, in America toward nationalism. Indeed, the definitions and concepts of "democracy" have become so varied that the very term democracy is in effect meaningless--something upon which people have never been able to agree, and never will"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.