Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

137 Pages·2010·1.49 MB·English

by  Harvey C. Mansfield

Tocqueville: A Very Short Introduction
Very Short Introductions available now:
ADVERTISING Winston Fletcher CAPITALISM James Fulcher
AFRICAN HISTORY CATHOLICISM Gerald O’Collins
John Parker and Richard Rathbone THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe
AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES CHAOS Leonard Smith
AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham
THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson
Charles O. Jones CHRISTIAN ETHICS D. Stephen Long
ANARCHISM Colin Ward CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead
ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
ANCIENT WARFARE Helen Morales
Harry Sidebottom CLASSICS
ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman Mary Beard and John Henderson
THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE John Blair CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard
ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon
ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller COMMUNISM Leslie Holmes
THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore
Paul Foster CONTEMPORARY ART
ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn Julian Stallabrass
ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne CONTINENTAL
ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes PHILOSOPHY Simon Critchley
ART HISTORY Dana Arnold COSMOLOGY Peter Coles
ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland THE CRUSADES Christopher Tyerman
ATHEISM Julian Baggini CRYPTOGRAPHY Fred Piper and
AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick Sean Murphy
AUTISM Uta Frith DADA AND SURREALISM
BARTHES Jonathan Culler David Hopkins
BESTSELLERS John Sutherland DARWIN Jonathan Howard
THE BIBLE John Riches THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY Eric H. Cline Timothy Lim
BIOGRAPHY Hermione Lee DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick
THE BOOK OF MORMON DESCARTES Tom Sorell
Terryl Givens DESERTS Nick Middleton
THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea DESIGN John Heskett
BRITISH POLITICS Anthony Wright DINOSAURS David Norman
BUDDHA Michael Carrithers DOCUMENTARY FILM
BUDDHISM Damien Keown Patricia Aufderheide
BUDDHIST ETHICS Damien Keown DREAMING J. Allan Hobson
DRUGS Leslie Iversen GAME THEORY Ken Binmore
DRUIDS Barry Cunliffe GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh
THE EARTH Martin Redfern GEOGRAPHY
ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta John Matthews and David Herbert
EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN GERMAN LITERATURE
Paul Langford Nicholas Boyle
THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball GERMAN PHILOSOPHY
EMOTION Dylan Evans Andrew Bowie
EMPIRE Stephen Howe GLOBAL CATASTROPHES
ENGELS Terrell Carver Bill McGuire
EPIDEMIOLOGY Roldolfo Saracci GLOBAL WARMING Mark Maslin
ETHICS Simon Blackburn GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger
THE EUROPEAN UNION THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE
John Pinder and Simon Usherwood NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway
EVOLUTION HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson
Brian and Deborah Charlesworth HEGEL Peter Singer
EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood
FASCISM Kevin Passmore HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson
FASHION Rebecca Arnold HINDUISM Kim Knott
FEMINISM Margaret Walters HISTORY John H. Arnold
FILM MUSIC Kathryn Kalinak THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY
THE FIRST WORLD WAR Michael Hoskin
Michael Howard THE HISTORY OF LIFE
FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY Michael Benton
David Canter THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE
FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser William Bynum
FOSSILS Keith Thomson THE HISTORY OF TIME
FOUCAULT Gary Gutting Leofranc Holford-Strevens
FREE SPEECH Nigel Warburton HIV/AIDS Alan Whiteside
FREE WILL Thomas Pink HOBBES Richard Tuck
FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons HUMAN EVOLUTION
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION Bernard Wood
William Doyle HUMAN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham
FREUD Anthony Storr HUME A. J. Ayer
FUNDAMENTALISM IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden
Malise Ruthven INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
GALAXIES John Gribbin Sue Hamilton
GALILEO Stillman Drake INFORMATION Luciano Floridi
INNOVATION MEMORY Jonathan K. Foster
Mark Dodgson and David Gann MODERN ART David Cottington
INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION MODERN IRELAND Senia Pašeta
Khalid Koser MODERN JAPAN
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Christopher Goto-Jones
Paul Wilkinson MODERNISM Christopher Butler
ISLAM Malise Ruthven MOLECULES Philip Ball
ISLAMIC HISTORY MORMONISM
Adam Silverstein Richard Lyman Bushman
JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves MUSIC Nicholas Cook
JUDAISM Norman Solomon MYTH Robert A. Segal
JUNG Anthony Stevens NATIONALISM Steven Grosby
KABBALAH Joseph Dan NELSON MANDELA
KAFKA Ritchie Robertson Elleke Boehmer
KANT Roger Scruton NEOLIBERALISM
KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner Manfred Steger and Ravi Roy
THE KORAN Michael Cook THE NEW TESTAMENT
LAW Raymond Wacks Luke Timothy Johnson
THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS THE NEW TESTAMENT AS
Peter Atkins LITERATURE Kyle Keefer
LEADERSHIP Keith Grint NEWTON Robert Iliffe
LINCOLN Allen C. Guelzo NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner
LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN
LITERARY THEORY Jonathan Culler Christopher Harvie and
LOCKE John Dunn H. C. G. Matthew
LOGIC Graham Priest THE NORMAN CONQUEST
MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner George Garnett
THE MARQUIS DE SADE NORTHERN IRELAND
John Phillips Marc Mulholland
MARX Peter Singer NOTHING Frank Close
MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers NUCLEAR WEAPONS
THE MEANING OF LIFE Joseph M. Siracusa
Terry Eagleton THE OLD TESTAMENT
MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope Michael D. Coogan
MEDIEVAL BRITAIN PARTICLE PHYSICS Frank Close
John Gillingham and PAUL E. P. Sanders
Ralph A. Griffiths PHILOSOPHY Edward Craig
PHILOSOPHY OF LAW ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler
Raymond Wacks RUSSELL A. C. Grayling
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE RUSSIAN LITERATURE
Samir Okasha Catriona Kelly
PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
PLATO Julia Annas S. A. Smith
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY SCHIZOPHRENIA
David Miller Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone
POLITICS Kenneth Minogue SCHOPENHAUER
POSTCOLONIALISM Robert Young Christopher Janaway
POSTMODERNISM SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Christopher Butler Thomas Dixon
POSTSTRUCTURALISM SCOTLAND Rab Houston
Catherine Belsey SEXUALITY Véronique Mottier
PREHISTORY Chris Gosden SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer
PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt
Catherine Osborne SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
PRIVACY Raymond Wacks ANTHROPOLOGY
PROGRESSIVISM Walter Nugent John Monaghan and Peter Just
PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns SOCIALISM Michael Newman
PSYCHOLOGY SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce
Gillian Butler and Freda McManus SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor
PURITANISM Francis J. Bremer THE SOVIET UNION Stephen Lovell
THE QUAKERS Pink Dandelion THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
QUANTUM THEORY Helen Graham
John Polkinghorne SPINOZA Roger Scruton
RACISM Ali Rattansi STATISTICS David J. Hand
THE REAGAN REVOLUTION Gil Troy STUART BRITAIN John Morrill
THE REFORMATION Peter Marshall SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
RELATIVITY Russell Stannard Stephen Blundell
RELIGION IN AMERICA TERRORISM Charles Townshend
Timothy Beal THEOLOGY David F. Ford
THE RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton THOMAS AQUINAS Fergus Kerr
RENAISSANCE ART TOCQUEVILLE Harvey C. Mansfield
Geraldine A. Johnson TRAGEDY Adrian Poole
ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway THE TUDORS John Guy
THE ROMAN EMPIRE TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITAIN
Christopher Kelly Kenneth O. Morgan
THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman
Jussi M. Hanhimäki THE WORLD TRADE
THE VIKINGS Julian Richards ORGANIZATION Amrita Narlikar
WITCHCRAFT Malcolm Gaskill WRITING AND SCRIPT
WITTGENSTEIN A. C. Grayling Andrew Robinson
Available soon:
landscapes and north american indians
geomorphology Theda Perdue and
Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles Michael D. Green
spanish literature Jo Labanyi the u.s. congress
diplomacy Joesph M. Siracusa Donald A. Ritchie
For more information visit our web site
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Harvey C. Mansfield
tocqueville
A Very Short Introduction
1
1
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Copyright © 2010 by Harvey C. Mansfi eld
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mansfi eld, Harvey Clafl in, 1932–
Tocqueville : a very short introduction / Harvey C. Mansfi eld.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-19-517539-4 (pbk.)
1. Tocqueville, Alexis de, 1805–1859—Political and social views.
2. Historians—France—Biography.
3. Statesmen—France—Biography.
4. Democracy. I. Title.
JC229.T8.M33 2010
320.092—dc22 [B]
2010010473
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in Great Britain
by Ashford Colour Press Ltd., Gosport, Hants.
on acid-free paper
Acknowledgments
This volume is sponsored by the Taskforce on the Virtues of a Free
Society of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where
I am the Carol G. Simon Senior Fellow. Support for it came also
from a research fellowship at the Carl Friedrich von Siemens
Foundation in Munich, Germany, held for the fi rst six months of
2009 at the invitation of my longtime friend Dr. Heinrich Meier.
Nor must I forget the everyday generosity of Harvard University,
where I have essentially spent my life. I am grateful to Kathryn
Sensen for invaluable and unsparing criticism of the text served
with all due respect. My late wife, Delba Winthrop, who would
have been co-author of the book, was ever in my thoughts as
I composed it.