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Soft despotism, democracy's drift : Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the modern prospect

Author: Paul Anthony Rahe
Publisher: New Haven : Yale University Press, ©2009.
Edition/Format:   Book : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
"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, in 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  Read more...
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Details

Named Person: Charles de Secondat Montesquieu, baron de; Alexis de Tocqueville; Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Material Type: Internet resource
Document Type: Book, Internet Resource
All Authors / Contributors: Paul Anthony Rahe
ISBN: 9780300144925 030014492X 9780300164237 0300164238
OCLC Number: 253839307
Description: xxiii, 374 p. ; 25 cm.
Contents: The Modern Republic Examined. Principles ; Uneasiness --
The Modern Republic Revisited. The Enlightenment Indicted ; Sociability as a Malady ; Citizenship as a Remedy --
The Democratic Republic Considered. Democratic Despotism ; American Exceptionalism ; The French Disease ; A Despotism of Administrators.
Responsibility: Paul A. Rahe.
More information:

Abstract:

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,  Read more...

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"This is an exemplary deployment of great past thinkers in an intensely provocative, deliberately controversial meditation on the profound strengths and weaknesses or dangers in our political Read more...

 
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schema:description""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, in 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." -- Publisher description."
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