Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect - Hardcover

Paul A. Rahe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 030014492X ISBN 13: 9780300144925

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2009

Synopsis

In 1989, the Cold War abruptly ended and it seemed as if the world was at last safe for democracy. But a spirit of uneasiness, discontent, and world-weariness soon arose and has persisted in Europe, America, and elsewhere for two decades. To discern the meaning of this malaise we must investigate the nature of liberal democracy, says the author of this provocative book, and he undertakes to do so through a detailed investigation of the thinking of Montesquieu, Rousseau and Tocqueville. Paul A. Rahe argues that these political thinkers anticipated the modern liberal republic's propensity to drift in the direction of 'soft despotism', a condition that arises within a democracy when paternalistic state power expands and gradually undermines the spirit of self-government. Such an eventuality, feared by Tocqueville in the nineteenth century, has now become a reality throughout the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, so Rahe asserts, and he explains what must be done to reverse this unfortunate trend.

About this title

About the Author

Paul A. Rahe is professor of history and political science at Hillsdale College, and author of 'Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution', and 'Against Throne and Altar: Machiavelli and Political Theory under the English Republic'.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 030014492X
• ISBN 13: 9780300144925
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384