Alexis De Tocqueville: Liberal Or Conservative

[*PRC*Kensei]

I got to write an essay for my cultural sciences study about this..

any opinions that could give me inspiration ?

alexis de tocqueville: whas he a liberal or a conservative ?

[apathy maybe]

Firstly, you haven't defined the terms "liberal" and "conservative".
Do you mean liberal in the classical Lockean sense? Or the sense it means in the USA of "welfare liberalism"?
"Conservatism" is a completely misused term, who were the conservatives in Russia in 1991? Conservatism is not a single unified movement of force, it is rather a desire for slow moving change, if any change at all. It is a belief that traditional values are probably good, otherwise why would they have stuck around so long.


Anyway, so for your essay (what grade is this for anyway?), I would structure it like this (at least to begin with).


Introduction - This is where you say what you are going to talk about.

This essay is about Alexis de Tocqueville. He was a fucknut from France who went to North America and wrote some shit on democracy. I am going to discuss whether he was a 'liberal' or a 'conservative'. To this end I will begin by defining these terms. I will then go on to compare him with each of these definitions, before concluding that he was not a "welfare liberal" or a "conservative", though he may well be thought of one if he was around today.

Definitions - This is where you define liberalism and conservatism. Ask again if you need help here (after first doing your own research), but be sure to distinguish between classical (or "true") liberalism (with the desire for a small state) and welfare liberalism (with the counter desire for a larger state). Also make sure to ridicule the term conservative, as it is a misused term and stupid to begin with.

Main text - Here you will have your main text, you will compare de Tocqueville with both sorts of liberalism, with what would pass for conservatism when he was around (the French monarchy for him, if my memory serves me correctly), and what would pass for conservatism now.

Conclusion - Here you sum up what you just said, "de Tocqueville was not a conservative in any sense of the word, nor even a liberal. As I stated in my introduction, he was a fucknut."


If you have a word or time limit, you could drop comparing him to welfare liberalism and current USA conservatism, as these weren't around when he was around.

If you want, post a draft in "Research and Online Classes" and I might have a look at it.

[*PRC*Kensei]

interpretation off liberalism & conservatism if free.

i'm gonna pick the historical liberalism (the old one) and the current american conservatism ( that way i think i can best make him look life a half liberal, half conservative ;)) , stating he was a libiral in his days, but today he would be a conservative (anyway he's not a socialist ! :angry: )

this is for university ;) cultural and sociological siences.

thx for ur input :)

[apathy maybe]

"Historical Liberalism" is not old, it is what is generally thought of as liberalism everywhere except the USA. The Liberal Democrats in Britain for example are not welfare liberals. (Actually the "Liberals" in Australia are not any sort of liberal, they are conservative fucknuts.)

Personally, I think you would do better to outline both variants of liberalism initially, even if you then only use classical liberalism in your essay. This way you can get extra points for knowing what you are talking about. By the same token, explain why conservatism is such a fucked up term (who were the conservatives in Russia in 1990, and did they have anything in common with the conservatives in the USA in 1990?).

And sorry for thinking you were still in school, the bad grammar through me off :P.

[Severian]

He was a liberal in the context of his time; an advocate of constitutional, parliamentary government.

But this didn't stop him from supporting Louis Bonaparte's bid for absolute power as Emperor in 1851.....before Bonaparte seized absoute power in a coup, de Tocqueville had introduced measures in parliament trying to give it to him. While de Tocqueville favored parliamentary democracy, he preferred an Emperor to the revolutionary danger of the working class.

One detailed look at this is in "Marx and Engels: Their Contribution to the Democratic Breakthrough" by August Nimtz. He has a chapter on de Tocqueville, looking at who was more genuinely and usefully supporting democracy: Marx and Engels, or the author of "Democracy in America"? Nimtz concentrates on the 1848-51 revolutionary upsurge.