Tocqueville, Lieber, and Bagehot

Current discussions of liberalism in world affairs tend to take a shortsighted view of the historical antecedents of the school of thought. Most jump directly from Kant to Wilson with little pause in between. In this book, Clinton has selected three thinkers to exemplify developments in the liberal world, all of whom were figures of real consequence in their own time, yet altogether different in temperament and subsequent fashion. Clinton shows how their interests and concerns, both complementary and divergent, make sense of nineteenth-century liberalism without turning it into the rigid doctrine it has never been - and never can be. By using their published works, speeches, and other correspondences, Clinton explores the way they applied their general insights on politics and society to the particular conditions of the international life. In so doing he provides a comparative study of the variants on a distinctively 'liberal' approach to international relations of this period, which may hold lessons for our own time.

Auteur

DAVID CLINTON is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Tulane University. He is author of The Two Faces of National Interest (LSU Press, 1994) and Presidential Transitions and American Foreign Policy, with Frederick Mosher and Daniel Lang (LSU Press, 1987).

Résumé
Alexis de Tocqueville, Francis Lieber, and Walter Bagehot are all mid-19th-century liberals who both commented on and helped to shape public affairs in the three premier liberal countries of the time: France, the United States, and Britain. Each also had an interest in international politics that stemmed from certain aspects of his broader political philosophy. But what did liberalism mean in this context - spreading the benefits of liberty, building an international society, or practicing tolerant non-intervention? These three men demonstrate the varieties of liberal thought of that time, and in so doing illustrate some important choices facing our own.

Contenu

Introduction Why Did M. Tocqueville Change His Mind?: Civic Virtue and International Society Why Did Professor Lieber Say No?: Nationalism and Internationalism Why Was Mr. Bagehot Opposed?: Government By Discussion Conclusion: The Legacy of Liberalism