Description: Alexis de Tocqueville is widely cited as an authority on civil society, religion, and American political culture, yet his thoughts on democratization outside the West and the challenges of a globalizing age are less known and often misunderstood. This collection of essays by a distinguished group of international scholars explores Tocqueville's vision of democracy in Asia and the Middle East; the relationship between globalization and democracy; colonialism, Islam, and Hinduism; and the ethics of international relations. Rather than simply documenting Tocqueville's own thoughts, the volume applies the Frenchman's insights to enduring dilemmas of democratization and cross-cultural exchanges in the twenty-first century. This is one of the few books to shift the focus of Tocqueville studies away from America and Western Europe, expanding the frontiers of democracy and highlighting the international dimensions of Tocqueville's political thought.
Brief description: Ewa Atanassow is Assistant Professor at ECLA of Bard, a liberal arts university in Berlin. Her research focuses on democracy and nationhood, and on the intersection of ethics, psychology and politics in the liberal tradition of political thought.
Review Quotes: "These essays offer a stimulating dialogue about the enduring relevance of Tocqueville's ideas to our present debates on the future of democracy across the globe. The diversity of viewpoints convincingly demonstrates that the greatness of Tocqueville lies in the critical and sophisticated lens through which he analyzed the multiple facets of modern democracy." - Aurelian Craiutu, Indiana University, Bloomington