Beyond the "formidable circle": Race and the limits of democratic inclusion in Tocqueville's Democracy in America

Despite his assertion that the first volume of Democracy in America (1835) would concentrate upon institutions, Tocqueville found himself finishing the draft manuscript in 1834 and unable to conclude his study without discussing race relations in the United States. In the end, he quickly penned a fi...

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Main Author: HENDERSON, Christine Dunn
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Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3429
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4686/viewcontent/Beyond_the.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.soss_research-46862023-10-19T05:36:17Z Beyond the "formidable circle": Race and the limits of democratic inclusion in Tocqueville's Democracy in America HENDERSON, Christine Dunn Despite his assertion that the first volume of Democracy in America (1835) would concentrate upon institutions, Tocqueville found himself finishing the draft manuscript in 1834 and unable to conclude his study without discussing race relations in the United States. In the end, he quickly penned a final chapter. That chapter—by far the book’s longest—offers “Some Considerations on the Present State and Probable Future of the Three Races That Inhabit the Territory of the United States.” Tocqueville begins the chapter by acknowledging that its subject “is American without being democratic” (DA, p. 516), and to the extent that it analyzes slavery in the South and the interactions of the Native Americans with the Anglo-European white Americans, this is true. When read in the context of his broader analyses of the psychology of equality, of majoritarian power, and of the importance of mores over laws, however, Tocqueville’s analysis of black–white race relations goes beyond its American context to offer an examination of the extra-legal barriers to inclusion and membership within a liberal democracy. As such, it offers a critical perspective on democratic theory, by suggesting that there are certain types of exclusions that cannot be resolved through formal institutions or by reformed processes of democratic deliberation. 2021-08-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3429 info:doi/10.1111/jopp.12260 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4686/viewcontent/Beyond_the.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection School of Social Sciences eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Democracy inclusion Tocqueville Ethics and Political Philosophy Political Science
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Democracy
inclusion
Tocqueville
Ethics and Political Philosophy
Political Science
spellingShingle Democracy
inclusion
Tocqueville
Ethics and Political Philosophy
Political Science
HENDERSON, Christine Dunn
Beyond the "formidable circle": Race and the limits of democratic inclusion in Tocqueville's Democracy in America
description Despite his assertion that the first volume of Democracy in America (1835) would concentrate upon institutions, Tocqueville found himself finishing the draft manuscript in 1834 and unable to conclude his study without discussing race relations in the United States. In the end, he quickly penned a final chapter. That chapter—by far the book’s longest—offers “Some Considerations on the Present State and Probable Future of the Three Races That Inhabit the Territory of the United States.” Tocqueville begins the chapter by acknowledging that its subject “is American without being democratic” (DA, p. 516), and to the extent that it analyzes slavery in the South and the interactions of the Native Americans with the Anglo-European white Americans, this is true. When read in the context of his broader analyses of the psychology of equality, of majoritarian power, and of the importance of mores over laws, however, Tocqueville’s analysis of black–white race relations goes beyond its American context to offer an examination of the extra-legal barriers to inclusion and membership within a liberal democracy. As such, it offers a critical perspective on democratic theory, by suggesting that there are certain types of exclusions that cannot be resolved through formal institutions or by reformed processes of democratic deliberation.
format text
author HENDERSON, Christine Dunn
author_facet HENDERSON, Christine Dunn
author_sort HENDERSON, Christine Dunn
title Beyond the "formidable circle": Race and the limits of democratic inclusion in Tocqueville's Democracy in America
title_short Beyond the "formidable circle": Race and the limits of democratic inclusion in Tocqueville's Democracy in America
title_full Beyond the "formidable circle": Race and the limits of democratic inclusion in Tocqueville's Democracy in America
title_fullStr Beyond the "formidable circle": Race and the limits of democratic inclusion in Tocqueville's Democracy in America
title_full_unstemmed Beyond the "formidable circle": Race and the limits of democratic inclusion in Tocqueville's Democracy in America
title_sort beyond the "formidable circle": race and the limits of democratic inclusion in tocqueville's democracy in america
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2021
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3429
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4686/viewcontent/Beyond_the.pdf
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