Tocqueville Between East and West

This book adopts an Eastern or Chinese perspective on Alexis de Tocqueville’s political thought, highlighting the ‘aristocratic’ nature of his theory of freedom; and, as it does to, it takes the great traveller of nineteenth-century Europe to the East. What would that traveller see in China? What kind of freedom would be identified in Chinese social contexts? And how would Confucianism figure in today’s politics? This book departs from the usual present-day distinction between democracy and authoritarianism, to analyse how ‘equality of conditions’ has affected both China and the West, albeit in different forms. It rejects the ‘End of History’ perspective as both false and dangerous, arguing in the Tocquevillian spirit that ‘democracy’, although inevitable for human societies, it is not an ‘end’ but rather a condition according to which we must adjust ourself in order to stay free, whether in the West or in the East.  

‘Demin Duan's bracingly original book presents a quite new Tocquevillle, for the citizens of China to think with just as much as those of France or the United States – a partisan of none of today's regimes, but a thoughtful critic of them all.’

John Dunn, Emeritus Professor and Life Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge

‘In modern China, the legitimacy of political power is based on the sovereignty of the people. But how to realise this ideal? In this volume, Duan defends an approach that is both original and persuasive. Tocqueville put forward ideas on local community autonomy and democratic representation that can empower the Chinese people, and Duan argues that this approach is consistent with a modernised form of Confucian political ethics. This clearly-written and erudite book is a masterclass in comparative political theory.’

Daniel A. Bell, author of Why Ancient Chinese Political Thought Matters

‘Applying Tocqueville’s account of the “democratic social condition”, which needs not always produce liberty, Duan has written an unusually interesting book. He analyses Western colonialism and contemporary China, arguing in a reserved but forceful way that only a Confucianism that adapts itself to equality and acts indirectly can have a healthy influence.’

Christopher Kelly, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Boston College