One of those overly-hyped book. Not an easy book to read.
Not every thing written is still relevant today.
The book gives a good idea on what had made democracy possible in America. According to Tocqueville, equality is essential to Democracy. Thus with so much inequality created by capitalism today, Democracy must be at peril. Perhaps capitalism and democracy don’t match.

It would be interesting to know what Tocqueville would think about America if he is alive today.

Considered a must-read classic about US history and US political culture. In fact, the most over-rated book in all of history. Complete waste of your time. I'd give it zero stars if I could. Alexis spent all his time hanging with his plantation-owner buddies in the South who ran the US gov't at the time, then wrote a book about how great Democracy in the US was. Except for a couple of pages, he ignores all the main issues of US political and economic history: slavery, racism, exploitation, genocide, military expansionism, and the conflict between masses and elites. Of course, this explains why this book is so popular today (Newt Gingrich said it was the most important book about US history.) By the way, Alexis then went home (back to France) and opposed the political struggles for democracy there, reminiscing about the "good old days" of the landed aristocracy when the serfs knew their place. A real expert on democracy.

I'm impressed by this book. Especially by the eloquence of the author, his visionary remarks on the dangers of equality, his brutally honest treatment of the first fully democratic country (America) and his intelligent comparison between European democracies (France and England) and the United States of America. I didn't expect Democracy in America to be this gripping; for a long time I had it on my shelves and I couldn't get myself to start reading. I'm glad I did start. This tome should be read more, especially by young people growing up, who are not used to defending their liberties.

In this book it becomes clear how our (European) democracies are the product of social revolutions and in this sense differ tremendously from the - worshipped by many - democracy of the USA. In the USA, the founding immigrants started out as equals, this is why equality of everyone forms one of the building blocks of the Constitution. In Europe, most of the democracies had to shake off aristocratic laws and customs. European democracies and the American democracies started out different. Personal liberties are protected more in the USA due to a secular state, a free press and a healthy division of legislative power between states and de federation. This explains for example why the freedom of religion (including freedom from religion!) is so problematic in Europe nowadays and seems almost no issue in the USA. Most of the European states are secular by convention, not by right.

One of the most important topics (in my opinion) is the importance of customs. Tocqueville learns us that you can have a judicial democracy and yet still lack a democratic society. He informs us of the importance of customs and conventions; without the right customs, a democracy won't stand for long. Equality and liberty are, so to speak, in the genes of the United States of America, because the immigrants all started out as equals and were free to claim land for themselves. This also partly explains the 'work hard for yourself-mentality' of Americans, especially in the North and North-west. In the southern states people could get rich by using slaves as a labour force. That's why the people in the North are more industrious (according to Tocqueville).

Another insight Tocqueville offers us modern readers, is the fact that freedom and equality aren't necessarily friends: most of the time, they are at eachothers throats. The more equal a society becomes, the more limited the individual will be in his daily life. This is all the more dangerous, when equality is coupled with a centralized government and administration. In a democracy people work hard for their (relatively) little material gains and are on their own ("individual and weak") and are therefore not really interested in important matters of state. The people will neglect threats and give the government maximum amount of room to 'play'. This can lead to despotism, where the centralized government plays the role of 'benevolent overlord' and watches over its people.

Two of the main remedies for this path to despotism are (1) a free press, which can warn the people of dangers and stir their passions and (2) the freedom to form associations. Only associations can rise above the level of the weak individual and form a counter movement against a usurping government.

I can't really stress enough how important the messages of this book are in our modern times. Almost all of the western democracies are shrouded with a thick fog of political correctness (Tocqueville's "tiranny of the majority") which hinders us in defending the freedom of the individual and battling anti-democratic forces (especially religious ones).

tome 1:de la Démocratie en Amérique, tome 1
tome 2:de la Démocratie en Amérique 2

Được biết đến quyển sách đã lâu nhưng phải đến khi Obama sang thăm Việt Nam tôi mới chính thức mở nó ra để tìm hiểu. Được ví như “người hiểu nước Mỹ hơn cả người Mỹ”, Alexis Tocqueville là một nhà tư tưởng chính trị, lịch sử học nổi tiếng của nước Pháp trong thế kỷ thứ 19 mà tác phẩm xuất sắc nhất của ông chính là quyển sách Nền dân trị Mỹ mà tôi giới thiệu với các bạn hôm nay được viết sau chuyến thăm của ông tại Mỹ. Sau này ông bắt đầu dấn thân vào con đường chính trị khi giữ chức đại biểu Quốc Hội, Phó chủ tịch quốc hội và bộ trưởng bộ ngoại giao pháp. Quyển “Nền dân trị Mỹ” và tư tưởng của ông đã gây tác động lớn cho các trí thức thời bấy giờ trong đó có John Stuart Mill, Gustave le Bon, …

Bằng sự quan sát tinh tế cùng những kiến thức của ông trong lĩnh vực chính trị. Ông đã cho ta cái nhìn sâu sắc, toàn diện và chi tiết về Nền dân trị Mỹ mà tác phẩm khi ra mắt đa gây được tiếng vang rất lớn cũng như rất nhiều tranh cãi. Tại sao lại là nước Mỹ? Tại sao chỉ có nước Mỹ mới có thể thành công với mô hình nhà nước liên bang và dân trị? Những tố chất hay điều kiện gì giúp nước Mỹ thành công với nền chính trị của quốc gia mình? Liệu đây có phải mô hình mà tất cả các nước nên áp dụng để đi đến sự thịnh vượng của dân tộc mình? Bắt đầu từ việc nghiên cứu về cấu trúc địa lý, điểm xuất phát và sự hình thành của người Mỹ gốc Anh đến việc đi chi tiết về luật pháp, sự hình thành của luật pháp cũng như cũng phong tục của người Mỹ gốc Anh, ông đã chỉ ra những nguyên nhân đã dẫn đến việc hình thành và duy trì nền dân trị ở Hoa Kỳ. Nước Mỹ cũng là một trong số hiếm hoi các nước mà chúng ta có thể quan sát, nghiên cứu rõ ràng và có đầy đủ tư liệu từ khi nó thành lập cho tới giờ.

Bản thân tác phẩm rất dài (gần 1000 trang) và các ý trong quyển sách đối với tôi là nhiều lần trùng lặp nên sẽ khiến người đọc dễ nản. Quyển sách được bố cục khá khó hiểu khi lần đầu tiên nhìn vào mục lục tôi cũng không thể nào hệ thống hóa lại được. Lời khuyên khi đọc quyển sách này chắc là không nên (và cũng không thể) đọc liên tục, nên chia ra đọc nhiều lần khác nhau mỗi lần phải xem lại các phần trước và tự hệ thống hóa lại những gì đã đọc. Thực ra với số lượng kiến thức đồ sộ như vậy, bản thân ông cũng thấy khó có thể truyền tải hết trong một tác phẩm và đối với những người đọc như chúng ta, việc hiểu hết trong lần đọc đầu tiên cũng hoàn toàn không thể. Hãy kiên nhẫn!

Growing up I was thankful that nowhere in my liberal arts education was I assigned to read Tocqueville’s “(On) Democracy in America”. The idea that it was written by a Frenchman always worried me, not for any particular political reasons but more so because I was afraid the connection would not be made between the author's intentions and the translation produced. Of course, there is no way to determine if the author's thoughts are properly conveyed but the translation comes across clear and revealing. Another reason I always found myself put off by the possibility of reading this book is because of what I perceived to be the inherent datedness of the subject. Tocqueville wrote the book well over a century and a half ago and much has changed in America, and in our "democracy" for that matter, since then. However, to my pleasant surprise the work is timeless and not just in the sense that it provides theories on underlying premises that unite us all, but in that many of Tocqueville's observations on America are spot on and continue to be so. Safe to say, I'm now ashamed of my prior reservations and that nowhere in my Political Science education was Tocqueville required reading.

‭De la democratie en Amerique = On Democracy in America = Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville
De La Démocratie en Amérique published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840) is a classic French text by Alexis de Tocqueville. Its title translates as On Democracy in America, but English translations are usually simply entitled Democracy in America. In the book, Tocqueville examines the democratic revolution that he believed had been occurring over the previous several hundred years.
عنوانها: دموکراسی در دنیای جدید؛ دموکراسی در امریکا؛ تحلیل دموکراسی در امریکا؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: یازدهم ماه مارس سال 1971 میلادی
عنوان: تحلیل دموکراسی در دنیای جدید؛ نویسنده: شارل هانری موریس کارل دو توکویل؛ یا: الکسی دو توکویل؛ با مقدمه هارولد نسکی؛ مترجم: رحمت الله مقدم (رحمت الله مقدم مراغه ای)؛ تهران، بنگاه ترجمه و نشر کتاب، 1346؛ در 815 ص؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، نشر همراه، 1380، در 743 ص؛ شابک: 9641319505؛ موضوع: دموکراسی در امریکا قرن 19 م
عنوان: تحلیل دموکراسی در امریکا؛ نویسنده: شارل هانری موریس کارل دو توکویل؛ یا: الکسی دو توکویل؛ با مقدمه هارولد نسکی؛ مترجم: رحمت الله مقدم (رحمت الله مقدم مراغه ای)؛ تهران، زوار، فرانکلین، 1347؛ در 815 ص؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، علمی فرهنگی، 1383، در هشتاد و یک و 574 ص؛ چاپ سوم: 1393، شابک: 9789644455285؛ موضوع: دموکراسی در امریکا قرن 19 م
جناب بزرگ نادرزاد نیز در دو جلد این کتاب را برای نشر فرهنگ جاوید ترجمه کرده است که جلد دوم آن در سال 1394 هجری خورشیدی بوده است
در سال 1831 میلادی، الکسی دو توکویل و گوستاو دو بیومون از سوی دولت فرانسه اعزام شدند، تا نظام زندان آمریکا را مورد مطالعه قرار دهند. توکویل در نامه‌ های متأخرش می‌گوید که او و بیومون از کسب و کار رسمیشان به عنوان زمینه‌ ای استفاده کردند تا در عوض جامعهٔ آمریکا را مورد مطالعه قرار دهند. آنان در ماه می همانسال به نیویورک رسیدند، و نه ماه در ایالات متحده سفر کردند، زندان‌ها را مورد مطالعه قرار دادند و در خصوص جامعهٔ آمریکا از جمله ویژگی‌های مذهبی، سیاسی و اقتصادی آن اطلاعات گردآوری کردند. این دو به طور جزئی از کانادا نیز دیدن کردند. ا. شربیانی

O livro contém quatro tomos, divididos em dois volumes na edição original: volume I sobre leis e costumes do país (1835), volume II sobre os sentimentos e opiniões do autor acerca da América (1840). Tocqueville era um aristocrata francês que observou a cultura, os costumes e as instituições americanas ainda no início de sua democracia. Os EUA foram o berço da democracia moderna, de forma que estudar sua formação histórica importa.
Três elementos se destacam nas observações de Tocqueville:
a) a revolução democrática americana é um evento irresistível na história: a luta por liberdade dos indivíduos levaria mais cedo ou mais tarde à democracia. Coube ao espírito independente dos pais peregrinos e do povo comum americano dar forma ao novo regime moderno.
b) a revolução democrática americana foi orgânica, não racionalista: os costumes e instituições americanos surgiram espontaneamente em meio à sociedade. Não foi fruto de um projeto racionalista a priori a ser imposto pela força e fomentado pelo ódio às elites (como na Rev. Francesa).
c) o contraste entre regimes aristocráticos e democráticos: enquanto na democracia os espíritos livres criam e descobrem normas institucionais e sociais pragmaticamente, as aristocracias limitam a liberdade e espontaneidade individuais de forma racionalista. Tais regimes têm seus pontos positivos e negativos, mas a balança pesa mais à liberdade democrática no olhar de Tocqueville.
É uma obra de fôlego, com argumentos circulares e repetitivos, mas de um valor inestimável para nossa democracia.

No silver bullet.

Single most mind-changing book I've read yet. Unlike just about everything else out there, this work doesn't try to convince you of the virtues of one way at the expense of another. It proceeds in a roller coaster ride of virtues and downfalls of every which principle one may fancy to base a government on.

No serious student of government (which I hope is every one of my fellow citizens) can afford to skip this work, without which an opinion on American politics is at best childish. I feel more grown up now, more somber and yet more hopeful for the great unknown ahead of us - let's make new mistakes, not old.

I will be rereading sections of this many more times in the future.

This is an interesting book that I don't understand completely, but I think it's a good and timely read to be studying about our republic and the unique freedom and democracy we enjoy in America. Alexis de Tocqueville describes and teaches about each branch and level of American democracy and government. He begins with local government and talks about state and federal government--including details of the establishment and importance of the executive, judicial and legislative branches. He also talks about the philosophies and laws and pros and cons of a government run by the people. He discusses social traditions, economics, leadership, culture, practices, virtues, passions, principles. Every sentence gave me something new to think about and try to understand.

I'm grateful for this unique and wonderful country and the blessings it affords me! Here are a few quotes I'm still pondering:

"Every people bears the mark of its origins (p. 31)."

"The locality is the only association that is so much a part of nature that wherever men come together, towns spontaneously arise (p. 67)."

"The revolution in the United States was the result of a mature, reflective preference for liberty and not a vague, indefinite instinct for independence. It did not depend on the passions of disorder. On the contrary, it demonstrated love of order and legality as it went forward (p. 79)."

"What I admire most in America is not the administrative effects of decentralization but the political effects. In the United States, patriotic sentiment is pervasive. Whether at the village level or at the level of the Union as a whole, the public interest is a matter of concern. People care about their country's interests as though they were their own. They glory in the nation's glory. In its successes they see their own work and are exalted by it. They rejoice in the general prosperity, from which they profit. They feel for their homeland a feeling analogous to what a man feels for his family, so that a kind of egoism also contributes to their interest in the state (p. 107)."

"When, after examining the organization of the Supreme Court in detail, one comes to consider all the prerogatives with which it was endowed, it soon becomes clear that no other people has ever constituted a mightier judicial power (p. 168)."

"The federal system was created in order to combine the various advantages of largeness with those of smallness. A glance at the United States of America is enough to reveal the many benefits that it derives from having adopted such a system (p. 182)."

"In the United States, democracy brings a steady flow of new men into positions of leadership. The government is therefore not much concerned with continuity and order in its measures. But the general principles of government there are more stable than in many other countries, and the principal opinions that dominate society have proved more durable. When an idea, whether just or unreasonable, takes possession of the American mind, nothing is more difficult than to get rid of it (p. 212)."

"The freedom most natural to man, after the freedom to act alone, is the freedom to combine his efforts with those of his fellow man and to act in common. The right of association therefore seems to me by its very nature almost as inalienable as the freedom of the individual (p. 220)."

"Previously, Washington gave expression to the following admirable and true idea: 'The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection.' Washington's political conduct was always guided by these maxims (p. 260)."

"As I see it, only God can be all-powerful without danger, because his wisdom and justice are always equal to his power. Thus there is no authority on earth so inherently worthy of respect, or invested with a right so sacred, that I would want to let it act without oversight or rule without impediment (p. 290)."

"No matter how juries are used, they cannot fail to exert an important influence on national character...The jury instills in all classes a respect for judicial decisions and the idea of law. Remove those two things and love of independence becomes a destructive passion (p. 315)."

"Everything about the Americans is extraordinary, their social state no less than their laws. But what is still more extraordinary is the land on which they live (p. 323)."

"The American learns about the law by participating in the making of it. He teaches himself about the forms of government by governing. He watches the great work of society being done every day before his eyes and, in a sense, by his hand....In the United States, all of education is directed toward politics. In Europe, its principal purpose is to prepare people for private life (p. 352)."

"I found in the United States that restlessness of the heart which is natural to men when, all conditions being almost equal, each person sees the same chance of rising. I found the democratic sentiment of envy expressed in a thousand different ways....America, as in Europe, men were subject to the same imperfections and exposed to the same miseries (p. 359)."

"The patriotic sentiment binding each American to his state has become less exclusive. As the various parts of the Union have come to know each other better, they have grown closer (p. 444)."

"The inhabitant of the United States experiences all the needs and desires born of an advances civilization, but, unlike the European, he does not live in a society cleverly arranged to satisfy them....In America, it is not unheard of for the same man to plow his own field, build his own house, fabricate his own tools, make his own shoes, and weave with his own hands the coarse fabricate with which he covers his body (p. 465)."

"Americans are pleased to explain nearly all their actions in terms of self-interest properly understood. They will obligingly demonstrate how enlightened love of themselves regularly leads them to help one another out and makes them ready and willing to sacrifice a portion of their time and wealth for the good of the state (p. 611)."

"When the taste for material gratifications develops in such a people more rapidly than enlightenment or than the habits associated with liberty, there comes a time when men are driven wild and lose nearly all sense of themselves at the sight of new goods ripe for the taking. Solely preoccupied with the need to make their fortunes, they cease to be aware of the close connection that exists between the particular fortune of each one of them and the prosperity of all (p. 630)."

"There is perhaps no country on earth where one meets fewer idle people than in America, or where all who work are more passionately devoted to the quest for well-being....An American will attend to his private interests as though he were alone in the world, yet a moment later he will dedicate himself to the public's business as though he had forgotten them. At times he seems animated by the most selfish greed, and at other times by the most ardent patriotism (p. 631)."

"In a foreign country, two Americans are friends at once simply because they are Americans. No prejudice keeps them apart, and their shared homeland draws them together. Identity of blood is not enough for two Englishmen; they need identify of rank to draw them together (p. 662)."

"Americans understood the kind of democratic equality that can be established between woman and man. They believed that because nature had made man and woman so different in physical and moral constitution, its clear purpose was to assign different uses to the diverse faculties of each. They judged, moreover, that progress lay not in making dissimilar beings do virtually identical things but in seeing to it that each acquitted itself of its task in the best possible way. Americans applied to the two sexes the great principle of political economy that dominates today's industry. They carefully divided the functions of man and woman in order to carry out the great work of society more effectively (p. 705)."

"I, for one, do not hesitate to say that although women in the United States seldom venture outside the domestic sphere...nowhere has their position seemed to me to be higher....if someone were to ask me what I think is primarily responsible for the singular prosperity and growing power of this people, I would answer that it is the superiority of their women (p. 708)."

"In the United States, fortunes easily collapse and rise anew....The audacity of their industrial undertakings is the primary reason for their rapid progress, their strength, and their grandeur. For Americans, industry is like a vast lottery, in which a small number of men lose daily but the state wins constantly. Such a people should therefore look favorably on boldness in industry and honor it (p. 731)."

A true classic. Worth reading today as much as ever.

Few have put the American experiment into perspective quite like the French political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville, who visited America in 1831 and 1832.

A close observer of the young nation, de Tocqueville traveled across the country--coast to coast--with a notepad in his hand. The resulting book, Democracy in America, is a key work in American political science. And he’s been revered for capturing the true essence of America like few others have, before or since.

His observations were both about the new political system (how it was structured and functioned) and also the ethos of the American people themselves (how they thought and behaved). America's success has been rooted in both equally.

My favorite de Tocqueville’s quote is that the “greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”

With the presidential election fast approaching, today's America is putting this thesis through a searing test. And we'll find out, soon enough, whether or not it’s still true.

Creio que , devido ao dia, todos deveríamos ler esta extraordinária obra , para perceber melhor o caldo de culturas que é o país Estados Unidos da América.