Tocqueville and populism

Abstract

This paper analyzes Alexis de Tocqueville’s perspective on populism in two different places and moments in time: his trip to America at the beginning of the 1830s—which coincided with Andrew Jackson’s presidency—and the revolution of 1848 in France          —which Tocqueville recounts in his Souvenirs. Discussing the relation between Tocqueville and populism may seem like an anachronism. However, the main components of populism—such as the direct appeal to the people, the charismatic leader, the ideological polarization that divides the world in friends and enemies, among others—were well-known to Tocqueville and his contemporaries. In general terms, contemporary populist politics would have been called demagogic during the nineteenth century. How did Tocqueville face demagogic politics during his time? It is easy to say that he was critical of demagogues. However, we can ask about the reasons for this criticism, as well as about Tocqueville’s understanding of what we would today call populist leadership and its consequences.