Tocquevillian Analytics: A Tool For Understanding Democracy in Africa and the Non-Western World

Abstract

"Most social scientists see Tocqueville as a brilliant commentator on American political institutions and culture who captured the essence of American democracy. Others who know his writings on France, England, Ireland, Germany, and Switzerland appreciate his interdisciplinary talents in history, sociology, comparative politics, and normative political theory. They see Democracy in America as an effort to understand the processes of democratization and its future in the western world. Although social scientists and democratic theorists often refer to the work of Alexis Tocqueville (1805-1859) in their analyses of American and European societies, they rarely apply his methodology and insights to the study of democracy in the non-western world. This paper argues that Tocqueville analytics as reflected in Tocqueville’s multilayered concept of democracy and the issues and concerns he raised are particularly important for understanding the movement towards democracy and the prospects for sustaining it in Africa and the non-western world."