Alexis de Tocqueville: A Counter-Revolutionary and Appreciating Religion Liberal

Abstract

The article examines the views and activities of Alexis de Tocqueville during the period when he was the French Minister of Foreign Affairs (from June 2 to October 31, 1849). The study of his ministerial work is significant for a better understanding of his political conception. Tocqueville is considered a liberal politician and thinker. Meanwhile, the research demonstrates that Tocqueville shared certain conservative ideas. The article explores the specifics of his conservatism and reveals the reasons for his rejection of certain aspects of liberalism. For example, Tocqueville discusses the contradictions inherent in democratic forms of government. He believes that it is necessary to take certain steps that will not allow the institutions of democratic governance to evolve to its contrary, to despotism. Tocqueville’s actions during his Roman expedition show the respect he had for the Roman Catholic religion and the importance he attached to it. Religion in his eyes is not only one of the most effective ways to create a democratic society, which is intrinsically vulnerable to the dangers of materialism, but also the core of civilization, seriously damaged by revolutionary turbulence. Although Tocqueville has a passion for freedom, all of his writings testify to his desire to understand and neutralize the passion for revolution, which he considered, not unlike Burke or Chateaubriand, dangerous both for freedom and for human dignity. In the midst of deep political, social, spiritual and civilizational crisis that the West is experiencing at the beginning of the third millennium, reflections on the works of Tocqueville seem more topical than ever.