Tocqueville's political economy as engagement

• Applicant: Dr. Clemens Reichhold
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 501727443

This project will offer a better understanding of politics and economics in modern democracies by examining the work of the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859). While many authors understand democracy as a purely political system, Tocqueville was one of the first scholars to engage with its economic and social foundations. Researchers to date are just beginning to recognise these ideas, yet they still show scarce interest in Tocqueville’s role as a public intellectual committed to work against the crises inherent to the still-fledgling democracy of his time. This scholarly gap is even more astonishing given that Tocqueville was a thinker who placed everyday civil engagement at the forefront of his efforts to revive democracy. Methodologically, the project explores the history of democracy itself, which was shaken by numerous crises during Tocqueville's lifetime between 1815 and 1860 and fuelled his zeal to make reforms. It also inquires more precisely about the intended audiences of his works. Whom did he try to convince? From whom did he seek to distance himself, and against whom did he direct his attacks? Finally, what media, rhetorical strategies and arguments did he choose, and why? This novel approach promises a better and deeply thorough understanding of Tocqueville's political position, which remains highly disputed even today.To better and more precisely define Tocqueville's perspective, this project will investigate his thinking on politics and economics in three key areas. Firstly, in relation to the new science of "political economy" established during his lifetime. Tocqueville's own critical relationship to the economic liberal founders of this science is of particular relevance to this study. Secondly, the project will examine Tocqueville's engagement as a political expert on issues of colonialism and imperialism. Relying on the articles and reports that he wrote for the French parliament, the project will reconstruct his efforts to gain a national consensus on the colonisation of Algeria. Finally, the project will be the first to systematically examine Tocqueville's role as a journalist and editor of the magazine Le Commerce. By offering a comparison to other contemporary journals, the project will decisively explain how Tocqueville strategically forged alliances with both progressive and conservative forces in order to preserve and protect fledgling capitalist democracies.By focusing upon these critical areas, the project will shed light on fundamental crises and the subsequent efforts to reform modern capitalistic democracies, which with Tocqueville was occupied since their very inception. Establishing a clear understanding of these crucial topics can only become possible by recognising and analysing the practical engagement of this classical scholar.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants