Mission Accomplished? A Comparative Exploration of Conservatism in the United States and Canada

Abstract

When analyzing institutions and events in the “New World,” observers from the “Old World” have rarely been motivated just by curiosity. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, both liberals and conservatives tried to paint a picture of the United States that was supportive of their own position in the domestic debates (von Beyme 1986: 25ff). Alexis de Tocqueville explicitly stated in the foreword of his seminal work on “Democracy in America” that his interest in the United States arose from his desire to seek “the image of democracy itself, with its inclinations, its character, its prejudices, and its passions, in order to learn what we have to fear or to hope from its progress” (de Tocqueville 1956: 36). Thus, the political instrumentalization of America, so pervasive in the current public discourse in Europe, is not a new phenomenon. Ever since the birth of the American nation, Europeans have tended to project their highest hopes or worst fears onto the “New World.”