A critical edition of Alexis de Tocqueville's De la démocratie en Amérique, translated into German and accompanied by commentary.

• Applicant: Dr. Skadi Siiri Krause
• Subject Area: Political Science ; General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies ; Principles of Law and Jurisprudence ; Modern and Contemporary History ; Practical Philosophy ; Sociological Theory
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 571058880

The project is motivated by the lack of a critical German translation of "De la démocratie en Amérique". Neither Hans Zbinden's translation of 1959/1962, which is now out of print, nor the heavily abridged version published by the Reclam-Verlag meet today's standards, as they do not provide an overview of the context in which the work was written, the process of textual revision, or the work's place in the political debates of the time. This is all the more regrettable as Tocqueville is one of the most important political thinkers of the 19th century, thanks to his study of democracy in America (the first empirically based treatise on democratic theory). Although the work is available in very good French editions (including digital editions) and in English (also digital), only a few Tocqueville specialists can work with the French editions, and the English translations, like all translations, represent interpretations that are sometimes very farreaching. The totally inadequate textual basis in German thus poses a serious problem for teaching and research. A new translation of Tocqueville's major work, including travel notes, letters and unpublished drafts to show the author's revisions of the manuscript, is therefore long overdue. It will take into account the history of the work's reception and the current state of Tocqueville scholarship, and will be available in both print and digital formats. The study is likely to attract attention and interest in the political and social sciences as well as in the fields of constitutional law, history, philosophy and cultural studies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants