Tocquevillian Ideas: Contemporary European Perspectives

This book offers a new, European-centered approach to Tocqueville’s thought. Although Tocqueville is often revered as a classic writer on the subject of American democracy, this book focuses on the multifaceted importance of his ideas within a European context. This collection of essays presents Tocqueville’s vision of a diverse and united Old Continent, exploring his ideas of liberty, virtue, religion, patriotism, greatness, civic participation and democracy. These thoughts are analyzed not only in the context of Tocqueville’s output, but also in the light of their potential to describe the dilemmas of contemporary Europe and to offer remedies for its problems.

About the Author

Zbigniew Rau is Director of the Alexis de Tocqueville Center for Political and Legal Thought. He is the author of many books, including Contractarianism versus Holism: Reinterpreting Locke’s Two Treatises of Government (University Press of America, 1995). He has held numerous academic appointments including those at Trinity College, Cambridge, Bowling Green State University, Stanford University and the Australian National University. He has also served as Senator of the Republic of Poland and as a Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Marek Tracz-Tryniecki is a researcher at the Alexis de Tocqueville Centre for Political and Legal Though at the University of Lodz. He is the author of the first Polish monograph on Tocqueville’s political and legal thought and numerous articles concerning the different aspects of his thought, including natural law, economic crisis, constitutional law and colonial policy.