Publication Date
Summer 2004
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Although Tocqueville, Lieber, and Bagehot all espoused the principles of limited government, each spun his liberalism from independent elements and none could be described as a democrat. Tocqueville’s critique of individualism sprang from his republican concern for civic virtue. Lieber’s organic view of the state reconciled his intense nationalism with a commitment to free trade, civil liberty, and self-government. Bagehot’s support for a politics of rational discussion was anchored in “an abiding skepticism that a mass electorate was capable of such discussion.”
Recommended Citation
Samson, Steven Alan, "Liberalism and Foreign Policy" (2004). Faculty Publications and Presentations. 10.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/gov_fac_pubs/10
Comments
Review of Tocqueville, Lieber, and Bagehot: Liberalism Confronts the World by David Clinton, in Review of Politics, 66 (Summer 2004): 529-31.