Tocquevillian Associations and Democracy: A Critique
نویسنده
چکیده
Alexis de Tocqueville’s notion of political and civic association is a recurrent theme in his work Democracy in America. There he argues that associations are a necessary correlational feature of democratization that should be promoted “at the same speed as the spread of the equality of social conditions” (600). This is because they correct the natural defects of democracy in that they (i) protect against the systemic risk of tyranny of the majority, (ii) counteract the rising tendency to favor individualism and isolationism, and (iii) channel the energy of democracy. However, in the face of a decline in contemporary civil society, the question arises whether political and civic associations still ought to become more prevalent.
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