Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59), French aristocrat and political theorist whose two volume work, Democracy in America (1835, 1840), provided the first comprehensive insight into the emerging democratic culture of modern societies. The product of a nine-month visit to America, it explored the 'inclinations, character, prejudices, and passions' that fuelled democracy in its modern guise. He was particularly concerned by the threat that equality of conditions and the accompanying passion for equality posed to liberty; the interaction of the spirit of equality with the individualistic moeurs of commerce produced conditions ripe for despotism, whether of the majority, the bureaucratic state, or other sources of power. See Volume 64.

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