Reconsidering Tocqueville's View of Algeria: From the Viewpoint of Democracy and Colonialism

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03295
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Matsumoto Reiji 早稲田大学, 教育・総合科学学術院, 名誉教授 (30013022)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: トクヴィル / デモクラシー / 西部開拓 / アルジェリア / 植民地帝国

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Tocqueville's works on Algeria should be interpreted in connection with his theory of democracy based on his American experience. He found in the colonization of North Africa a proper target of French national ambition, which was withering away in the spread of democratic individualism and materialism. He even compared it to the American colonization of the West (“Alger is Cincinnati in Africa”). Second, military adventure in Algeria gave a solution to Tocqueville’s worry about the danger of a big army in democratic countries, for it provided for the French soldiers a fine arena of action, a safety valve for their frustration, which would prevent them from causing domestic turmoil. Tocqueville also made a clear distinction between military conquest and colonization and tried to make his own plan of colonization.
Tocqueville’s theoretical inquiry predicted to some extent the building of the French colonial empire, which would start on a full scale under the Third Republic.

Free Research Field

政治学