Political Science Report: Tocqueville's Analysis of American Democracy

This report delves into Alexis de Tocqueville's observations on American democracy, examining his perspectives on the township system, nationalism, and the omnipotence of the majority. The report explores the core of the USA's democratic system and touches upon the historical and societal contexts that shaped it. It discusses the author's views on individualism and equality, contrasting nationalism and patriotism, and analyzes the impact of the majority's influence on American society. Furthermore, the report examines the limitations of Tocqueville's analysis, particularly concerning the sources of modern democracy. The report offers a comprehensive understanding of Tocqueville's analysis of American democracy, highlighting both his contributions and the limitations of his perspective.

Running head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................3
Reference:..................................................................................................................................4

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Introduction:
The subject matter is based on the view of Alexis Tocqueville regarding the
democratic condition of United States. In his book, he has pointed out certain things
including the township planning of the country, preservation of liberty and major
omnipotence of the state. A brief discussion over this matter has been discussed in this report.
Discussion:
The author while discussing about the geographic layout and democratic feature of
the country has made a poetic discussion. However, inconsistencies have been observed
between the definition of individualism and conditional equality within the state. According
to the view of the author, puritans have introduced the democratic movement in USA and
they have taken certain fundamental orders. While talking about the US constitution, the
author has been stated about various aspects of democracy and mention about the township
democracy (De Tocqueville). Democracy is a political system, where the elected
representatives govern certain territories. In the period of 1636 in North America, township
system reflects the characteristics of democratic government. In this case, the citizens of the
town are elected their representatives who are governed the town and act for the interest of
the citizens (Englert). In this way, liberty and democracy have been preserved by the
township culture. Further, the author regarding the terms nationalism and patriotism has made
certain differentiations. It is true that both the terms are related to nation. Nationalism
concentrates on the unity by strengthen the cultural background of a state. The term cultural
background includes language and heritage of the country. On the other hand, patriotism
reflects the love for the nation and focuses on the values and belief. The term patriotism is
wider compared to the nationalism and nationalism highlights the virtue of the country
irrespective of its deficiencies (Venturi). The author in chapter 7 of his book has discussed

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the omnipotence of majority where he has given certain examples on constitutional and
sociological perspective (Albert). According to the author, America has less freedom of
thought and it creates negative impact on the citizens.
Conclusion:
The author in his book has made certain conventional analysis. However, he has
failed to point out all the sources of the modern democracy and describe democratic
movement in America from narrow point of view. His theory has represented the democratic
system of USA as superfluous.

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Reference:
Albert, Craig Douglas. "A Hitchhiker’s Guide to “Democracy in America”." (2017): [pg 117-
119].
De Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in america. Vol. 10. Regnery Publishing, 2003 [pg 124-
125].
Englert, Gianna. "“The Idea of Rights”: Tocqueville on The Social Question." The Review of
Politics 79.4 (2017): [pg 649-674].
Venturi, Franco. The End of the Old Regime in Europe, , Part II: Republican Patriotism and
the Empires of the East. Vol. 1177. Princeton University Press, 2014 [pg 1776-1789]