Political Science W 3911 Fall 210

Instructor : Jon Elster

TOCQUEVILLE ON DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA

The class will be organized as a close reading of Alexis de Tocquevilles Democracy in America. We shall use the Library of America edition. Additional readings are: George Pierson, Tocqueville in America (required) J. Schleifer, The Making of Tocquevilles Democracy in America, available at http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/667 (required) J. Schleifer, Tocquevilles Democracy in America: Some key themes reconsidered, The Tocqueville Review 2009, to be made available in electronic form (required). Tocquevilles report on Democracy in Switzerland in A. Craiutu and J. Jennings (eds.), Tocqueville on America after 1840, pp. 354-69, to be made available in scanned electronic form (required) Part I (Letters) of the same work (recommended) R. Swedberg, Tocquevilles Political economy (recommended) J. Elster, Alexis de Tocqueville: The First Social Scientist (recommended). The requirement for a quality grade is a term paper of at least 3500 words (not counting quotations) on some topic approved by the Instructor. In addition to critical discussions of Tocquevilles book, Tocquevillian analyses of contemporary social and political phenomena may also be accepted. Classes meet on Monday 2:10pm-4:00 pm in 501A International Affairs Building