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Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift / Talvikki Ansel.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Ansel, Talvikki, Author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, baron de, 1689-1755.
- Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat.
- Tocqueville, Alexis de, 1805-1859.
- Tocqueville, Alexis de.
- Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778.
- Rousseau, Jean-Jacques.
- Democracy.
- Republicanism.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (399 p.)
- Place of Publication:
- New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2009]
- Language Note:
- English
- 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 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.
- Contents:
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- List of Abbreviations
- Book One. The Modern Republic Examined
- Book Two. The Modern Republic Revisited
- Book Three. The Democratic Republic Considered
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)
- ISBN:
- 9780300156102
- 0300156103
- OCLC:
- 953660859
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