Tocqueville against Guizot? On Gianna Englert’s Democracy Tamed

Gianna Englert's Democracy Tamed is a timely and insightful contribution to the study of liberalism in nineteenth-century European political thought. Englert illuminates often-overlooked figures such as Édouard René de Laboulaye and Prosper Duvergier de Hauranne, while engaging deeply with canonical thinkers like Constant, Guizot, and Tocqueville. However, the article critiques the book, particularly its early chapters, for offering overly evaluative readings of these figures' stances on democracy. Focusing on Tocqueville, it argues that his historical opposition to expanded suffrage, preference for indirect elections, support for empire, and retreat from political life following universal suffrage's arrival complicates the portrayal of him as a devotee of democracy who bears little resemblance to an anti-democrat like Guizot. More generally, the article urges scholars to pay more attention to the positions shared across the liberal tradition rather than to rhetorical differences around the embrace of democracy, especially when discussing liberals' views on suffrage, property, and the role of the state.