Rollback of Democracy? A Tocquevillean Perspective

Abstract

This article suggests that to judge the state of democracy today we need to clarify what we mean by democracy. Not simply given, democracy's institutional and moral meanings have been historically, and continue to be at present, the subject of intense disagreement. Drawing on one of the most influential accounts of modern democracy -Tocqueville's -it argues that far from rolling back, democracy defined by the passion for equality is, so to say, rolling forward; and that the various crises we are observing today issue less from the retreat than from a deepening of inherently democratic tendencies. These same trends may help explain the rise of neo-liberalism in recent decades. Mitigating these deep-seated tendencies would require a comprehensive set of remedies. Among them is the need to rethink not only the nature of equality but also, perhaps above all, the meaning of freedom.

Conclusion: How to Rule the Void? Policy Responses to a ‘Hollowing Out’ of Democracy

“…They might be found in different public expectations, that is, in historically higher expectations of what a democracy could and should deliver (cf. Atanassow, ; Castiglione, ), in an ideological convergence or division within the different party systems and epistemic communities (cf. White, ; McCarty and Kuo, ; Ruser, ), but also – and prominently in the European context – in the unsolved economic crisis with its uneven consequences for different regions and groups (cf.…”

“…The contributions of Atanassow () and Castiglione () suggest that one way forward is to better clarify what we mean by democracy and democratic practices in the first place. A democratic order must not be defined by its existing procedures and political institutions – elections, referenda, parties, parliaments – since they are always in flux, but by its very purpose: collective self‐determination.…”