Tocquevillian Ideas

Zbigniew Rau is Director of the Alexis de Tocqueville Center for Political and Legal Thought. He is the author of many books, including Contractarianism versus Holism: Reinterpreting Locke’s Two Treatises of Government (University Press of America, 1995). He has held numerous academic appointments including those at Trinity College, Cambridge, Bowling Green State University, Stanford University and the Australian National University. He has also served as Senator of the Republic of Poland and as a Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.Marek Tracz-Tryniecki is a researcher at the Alexis de Tocqueville Centre for Political and Legal Though at the University of Lodz. He is the author of the first Polish monograph on Tocqueville’s political and legal thought and numerous articles concerning the different aspects of his thought, including natural law, economic crisis, constitutional law and colonial policy.

Tocquevillian Ideas: Contemporary European Perspectives would be beneficial for postgraduate students and those who are interested in the effects of Tocqueville’s ideas on democracy and freedom in the last century; the book provides an almost comprehensive outline of the main themes in Tocqueville’s thought.

• 1. Tocqueville and Europe: What Can We Learn from Him about the Past, the Present and the Future of the Old Continent?By Zbigniew Rau and Marek Tracz-TrynieckiA prophetThe American Experience—UnityEuropean Experience—DiversityThe European Idea—UnityTocqueville and the Crisis of the European Integration ProjectConcluding Remarks: Towards a Toquevillean Notion of European Unity2. Tocqueville: A Thinker of FreedomBy Cengiz ÇaglaTocquevillian Liberty State, Society and Democracy Threats to Liberty in Democracies: Lefort and Richter readers of TocquevilleConclusion3. Patriotism in Democracy: What We Learn from TocquevilleBy Ewa AtanassowPolitical Sociology of PatriotismPolitical Psychology of PatriotismPsychology of Patriotism ReconsideredPatriotism in DemocracyIn Conclusion: What do we learn from Tocqueville?4. Tocqueville on Citizen ParticipationBy Marinus R.R. OssewaardeIntroductionCitizen participation according to TocquevilleCitizen participation and the era of global capitalismCitizen participation, nature and the stateCitizen participation and the divine significance of democracyCitizen participation and the heroism of reasonSome further reflections on freedom5. Tocqueville and the Democratic ChurningBy Attila K. MolnárThe upgraduation of democracyWhat is democracy, and what is not.Individualism—the ens completumThe multitudeCollectivist individualismBeautiful democracy? 6. Religion, Virtue and the Ennobling of Democracy: Tocqueville's Vision of Civic SocietyBy Oliver HidalgoThe Problem of Modern Civil Society: Freedom vs. EqualityReligion and Virtue as Conditions of a Free Civil SocietyCatholicism against PantheismConclusion: Ennobling Democracy7. Human Dignity versus Greatness: Tocqueville’s DilemmaBy Marek Tracz-TrynieckiHuman dignityGreatnessAlgeriaConclusion8. The American Melting Pot as Reductionist Kettle: Religious Liberty's Worrisome ConditionBy William R. Stevenson, JrBibliographyList of AuthorsInformation on the Alexis de Tocqueville Centre for Political and Legal Thought