8 - Tocqueville in Japan and China

Summary

While interest in Democracy in America has been centered in the West, James T. Schleifer describes in this chapter how Japanese interest in Democracy in America began as early as the late nineteenth century during the period of the Meiji Restoration. By way of contrast, Chinese interest in Tocqueville’s writings emerged only in the past few decades and has focused more on his Old Regime and the Revolution. These two case studies are exemplary of growing international interest in Tocqueville’s writings as thinkers outside the West wrestle with his lessons about the future possibilities of equality, political rights, and democratic liberty.