Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805 to 1859) was a French diplomat, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for Democracy in America, published in two volumes in 1835 and 1840, and for The Old Regime and the Revolution of 1856. In these books and in his reflections on travels in England and Ireland he analyzed the living standards and social conditions of individuals and their relationship to the market and the state in Western societies. Democracy in America, written after his travels in the United States, is today considered an early work of sociology and political science. Tocqueville was active in French politics under the July Monarchy and the Second Republic, and he retired from political life after the coup of December 1851. He was a classical liberal who advocated parliamentary government and was sceptical of the extremes of majoritarianism.