Tocqueville

A detailed Summary of Tocqueville

In the book Democracy in America, Tocqueville describes why he believes democracy, especially in America, is going to turn into a despot. Tocqueville believes that despotism is going to rise in America because "when the inhabitant of a democratic country compares himself individually with all those about him, he feels with pride that he is the equal of any one of them; but when he comes to survey the totality of his fellows and to place himself in contrast to so huge a body, he is instantly overwhelmed by the sense of his own insignificance and weakness" (Tocqueville v2, p10). This insignificance and weakness makes the inhabitant rely on the government more and thereby the government turns into a despotic one. This is why Tocqueville believes that despotism will be the end result of democracy.

Democratic nations, such as America, pride themselves on equality of conditions. "The first and most tense passion that is produced by equality of condition is the love of that equality (Tocqueville v2, p94)." Men love equality because it gives everyone equality of opinions and equality of worth, which means that no one person, is any better than anyone else. Americans do not believe just one person because their opinion is equal to t

Democratic nations have one extremely important political association that helps it to resist its tendency towards despotism. The association is decentralized administration of local government. Decentralized administration allows inhabitants to become more active citizens because it allows them to get involved in the government of their local community. In the United States, decentralized administration helps "the country make itself felt everywhere [and] gives support to the government by the community" (Tocqueville v1, p85). Decentralized administration is a political association that also helps to combat despotism by bringing the citizens of a community together so that they have a reason to combine on a common level. A community of this type is less likely to become a despotic society because of their lack of dependence on the government.

hat one person's opinion; but if the majority holds that same opinion then that one person will conform to the majority. "At periods of equality men have no faith in one anther, by reason of their common resemblance; but this very resemblance gives them almost unbounded confidence in the judgement of the public (Tocqueville v2, p10)." This equality on an individual basis leads to a sense of individualism.

Equality is what democratic nations pride on; but this equality often leads to individualism, which ultimately can lead to despotism. Democracy often fosters despotism because of its equality, but equality does not unavoidably lead to despotism. To combat this threat of despotism, democratic nations have created many different kinds of political and social associations. These associations help to resist despotism, because they bring the citizens together which

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Approximate Word count = 1163
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics