Guardians of Liberal Democracy - Intercollegiate Studies Institute

Guardians of Liberal Democracy

In Liberal Democracy and Political Science, James W. Ceaser addresses the structure of liberal democracy, the ways in which political theorists have treated the subject, Tocqueville on political science, and finally political science as a social enterprise. I would like to focus on the Tocquevillian approach to liberal democracy and the relationship political science has to the maintenance of liberal democracies.

While The Federalist deals with the question of how to make republicanism and constitutionalism compatible, it doesn’t speak much to how citizens are to maintain the structure of liberal democracy. When dealing with how liberalism has to be adjusted to fit within a republican form of government, Tocqueville goes beyond The Federalist in dealing with the mores of society: “the habits … the beliefs … and the sum of moral and intellectual dispositions of men in society.”

Tocqueville argues that the virtues promoted to uphold both the liberal and republican sides of our regime require active maintenance. According to Montesquieu and the American Founders, “A good constitution could generate the moderation of political passions, and in return, thanks to this moderation, the political system could function correctly.” Finally, Martin Diamond argues for mediating institutions to maintain the quality of life and happiness of the citizens. This is accomplished by allowing for growth of religion, art, education, and family.

Liberal democracy can only survive with active superintendence, which is “complex and multi-faceted. It involves constructing the primary political arrangements with a view to their effect on mores; establishing secondary political and social institutions that promote helpful habits and practices; and devising intellectual and cultural strategies to foster supportive ideas, opinions, and beliefs.” This task is extremely difficult; liberal democracies are fragile because of their reliance on the political knowledge and activity of the citizenry.

Ceaser, in agreement with Hamilton, argues that liberal democracies are skillfully and complexly created and rely on political knowledge both to create and to sustain them. This is where political science should serve as a social enterprise devoted to maintaining liberal democracies, which are under attack not only from the outside the regimes but also from intellectuals within.

The purpose of Tocqueville’s “new political science” is to guide and educate liberal democracy; unfortunately that is not occurring in the discipline and is not inconsequential. This abandonment puts such values as liberty, order, and equality under attack without defense. Ceaser charges those of us who are political science students, because of our extensive knowledge of liberal democracy, to be guardians of our regime.

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