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Soft tyranny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Soft tyranny is an idea first coined by Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1835 work entitled Democracy in America.[1] In effect, soft tyranny occurs whenever the social conditions of a particular community hinder any prospect of hope among its members.[2] For Tocqueville, hope is the driving force behind all democratic institutions.[3] As such, whenever this all-encompassing hope is taken away from the people, liberal democracy fails. Examples of this failure can be seen in the Weimar Republic of Germany during the 1930s or in the French Third Republic around 1940. Hope for a better future effectively died in both of the aforementioned situations. As a result, fascist regimes were established to fill the void left by the departure of hope.
- ^ Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, (New York: Bantam Books, 2000), 9-15.
- ^ Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, (New York: Bantam Books, 2000), 9-15.
- ^ Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, (New York: Bantam Books, 2000), 9-15.
- Tocqueville's Times, blog entry concerning soft tyranny and Alexis de Tocqueville.
- In Search of Tocqueville's Democracy in America, information and resources about Alexis de Tocqueville.
- Democracy in America, hypertext with a gallery of related projects describing America ca. 1820–1840.