Alexis de Tocqueville

French historian and politician Alexis de Tocqueville was born in Paris in 1805 and died in Cannes in 1859. A member of the judiciary during the Bourbon Restoration, he was tasked by the government with studying the penitentiary system of the United States. His journey to the U.S. resulted in the writing of his monumental work "De la démocratie en Amérique" (1835-1840) [in Greek: "Η δημοκρατία στην Αμερική", translated by Babis Lykoudis, introduction by Giorgos Maniatis, published by Stochastis]. This work is still considered, particularly in America, the most insightful and prophetic analysis of American culture. An academic (1841), a member of parliament, and later the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1849), he withdrew from political life in 1851 following the coup by Louis Bonaparte and dedicated his life to writing historical studies, culminating in another renowned work, "L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution" (1856). Convinced that the democratic idea, namely equality, is an inevitable fact marking the definitive end of the aristocracy from which he himself originated, Tocqueville sought ways in which freedom could be combined with democracy. For Tocqueville, democracy could pose a grave danger; in the name of popular will, the State might crush all freedom. To prevent this danger of majority despotism at the expense of minorities, measures are required that are simultaneously political (decentralization, freedom of the press, strengthening of local liberties), social (development of associations), and legal (independence of the judiciary). Tocqueville's argumentation, based on the study of historical events, follows a method reminiscent of Montesquieu, with whom Tocqueville shares a strictly scientific logic and a clear, concise style