Author's Keywords: Tocqueville, democracy, colonialism, imperialism, individualism, polycentricity, federalism, institutional development, development	Convention Convention is an application service for managing large or small academic conferences, annual meetings, and other types of events! Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! Click here for more information.
Association: Name: American Political Science Association URL: http://www.apsanet.org
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Allen, Barbara. "Alexis de Tocqueville and the Universal "Democratic Revolution": Liberty, Equality - and Empire?" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Marriott, Loews Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA, Aug 31, 2006 <Not Available>. 2009-05-24 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p152650_index.html>

Allen, B. , 2006-08-31 "Alexis de Tocqueville and the Universal "Democratic Revolution": Liberty, Equality - and Empire?" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Marriott, Loews Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA Online <PDF>. 2009-05-24 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p152650_index.html

Publication Type: Proceeding Abstract: In Democracy in America (1835-40) Alexis de Tocqueville portrayed European history as a complex set of transformations producing an on-going, �providential� democratic revolution. Democracy, defined as the condition of relative social equality, swept away the old regimes of the West and established a new basis for society in the New World. The resulting political state was not uniformly positive however; profound dilemmas confronted democratic peoples. Tocqueville�s now famous discussions of the democratic tendency toward mediocrity, conformity, and unconscious assent to potentially tyrannical mass opinion along with his discussions of the myopic individualism and excessive materialism that would plague democracies were summed in a single ominous phrase: democratic despotism. As France faced the specter of despotic regimes, Tocqueville and others who shared these concerns looked to the United States (as the country that had most embraced equality, for better or worse) for ideas and institutions to counter the less salutary features of mass democracy. In Tocqueville�s study, the American covenant tradition (mores and institutions associated with Reformed Protestant) and federal principles suggested means for �educating democracy� to its true interests. Throughout such early writings, Tocqueville continued to view �democracy� as an apparently universal human movement toward equality and, possibly, liberty. Likewise, political culture in the United States seemed to offer evidence that assimilation to democratic norms brought benefits that perhaps outweighed troublesome expressions of conformity; sharing among cultures, especially the social learning from shared political experiences promoted the gradual diffusion of enlightened ideals, including the universal right due moral equals. In 1835, the questions facing statesmen seemed to concern the institutions and informing habits of thought that would promote self-government as a basis for the political culture associated with democracy�s positive �harmonizing� effects. Tocqueville�s Democracy forecast the continuing swell of this democratic �tide,� and held out the hope that its course might be directed by those who recognized the principles of a �new science of politics.� A decade later, as a member of the Chamber of Deputies, Tocqueville revisited this optimistic forecast, confronting as well the meaning of European revolutions in international affairs. Were the wellsprings of equality latent in every people, to be swelled by a providential force? Or was the sea change exogenous, emanating from Europe to contour distant shores? The metaphor offered both visions with their vastly different implications. By reading Tocqueville�s papers on French colonial policy we gain deeper insight into his conception of democratization and the difficulty of translating principles of institutional design into the actualities of self-governance. Tocqueville�s activities as Foreign Minister furthermore reveal important associations between European conceptions of the democratic revolution and colonial enterprises.

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