Tocqueville’s Thought On Democracy

Centered on the theme of the democratic transition of the authoritarian states, thisthesis focuses on the explanation of the concept of democracy raised by Alexis deTocqueville. Consequently, instead of the over-all description of the democracy, it is thecontent of transition that is highly emphasized, which has been mainly interpreted in <Theold system and revolution>, one of his academic writings. Besides, the other twomasterpieces of Alexis de Tocqueville,<Democracy in America>and<Memoirs>, alsocatch some idea of it. After observing the democratization course of authoritarian Francein18-19century, Tocqueville makes an extraordinary analysis and theoretical abstraction.His study with the rich connotations and word-wide influence becomes the foundation ofthis thesis.This thesis mainly focuses on analyzing the obstacles in Tocqueville’s eyes whendemocratic transition happened to authoritarian states. There are five barriers in differentfour fields as follows: the authoritarian state in politics, the utilitarianism andindividualism in spiritual realm, the atomized society in social pattern, the superstition tothe function of revolutionary construction and the absence of literacy and patience forreform in democratic cognitive domain. Even going through the violent revolution andlong-time turmoil, it is still hard to step into the entrance of democracy for theauthoritarian states because the five obstacles interact on each other. This needs to bestressed that the discussion about political philosophy is based on the perspective ofcritical rationalism in author’s mind. In Tocqueville interpretation, the doctrine of “lovingliberty” is considered to be critical to the realization of democracy. Besides, he alwaysconcerns that the people will be enslaved by authoritarian once giving up the love forpolitical liberty. Only when people have the strong love for the political liberty andrecognize the obstacles above rationally, the plain and direct way to democracy wouldshow itself in front of us.Specifically, here is the sequence of this thesis.The process and connotation of The Tocqueville’s main thoughts are statedelaborately in the introduction section, carrying on the main subject of the paper gradually. The major part of chapter one is to introduce the practical and theory source ofTocqueville’s thoughts in both the historical and ideological background. In chapter two,Tocqueville’s democracy concept has been illustrated, including the connotation, theobstacles and key factors to realize democracy. Therefore, the last chapter, chapter three,illustrates the development and influence of Tocqueville’s democracy concept andelaborates the vital significance for the modern China.