Reading Tocqueville: From Oracle to Actor

The essays collected here aim to set up a dialogue between the 'historical' and the 'contemporary' Tocqueville. In what ways does a contextualization of Tocqueville throw new light on his relevance as a political thinker today? How can a focus on his embeddedness in the political culture of the nineteenth century contribute to our understanding of his political thought? Or, conversely, how has the usage of Tocqueville's writings in day-to-day political debate influenced the reception of his work both in the past and today?

The essays collected here aim to set up a dialogue between the 'historical' and the 'contemporary' Tocqueville. In what ways does a contextualization of Tocqueville throw new light on his relevance as a political thinker today? How can a focus on his embeddedness in the political culture of the nineteenth century contribute to our understanding of his political thought? Or, conversely, how has the usage of Tocqueville's writings in day-to-day political debate influenced the reception of his work both in the past and today?

RAF GEENENS studied at the universities of Brussels, Leuven, Paris VIII, and was a visiting student at the New School for Social Research. Currently he is a researcher for the Catholic University of Brussels, Belgium; he is preparing a PhD-thesis on the role of power in democracy. Together with Ronald Tinnevelt, he previously edited an introductory volume on deliberative democracy: De stem van het volk. Democratie als gesprek (The Voice of the People. Democracy as a Conversation) (LannooCampus, 2007). After stints as a Fellow at the Remarque Institute, and as a Visiting Fellow at Columbia University, USA and Cambridge University, UK, ANNELIEN DE DIJN was appointed as a Postdoctoral researcher at Leuven University, Belgium. Her research focuses on nineteenth-century French liberalism and Alexis de Tocqueville, on which she has published in several scholarly journals. Her book Political Thought in France from Montesquieu to Tocqueville: Liberty in a Levelled Society will be published by Cambridge University Press.