‘Not more democratic, but more moral’: Tocqueville on the suffrage in America and France

Tocqueville has been portrayed as a “strange liberal” for his singular defenses of individual liberty. This essay highlights an overlooked instance of Tocqueville’s distinctiveness by analyzing his thoughts on suffrage, which placed him at odds with his French liberal contemporaries. It uncovers Tocqueville’s attitude toward universal suffrage in America and his critiques of a capacitarian suffrage in France. I argue that Tocqueville articulated his hope not for a “more democratic, but for a more moral” electoral law during most of the July Monarchy, aiming to transcend existing debates over the extent of the electorate or the capacité politique of the individual elector. By arguing for Tocqueville’s singularity on the suffrage, this essay brings to light both his departures from the thought of the liberal Doctrinaires and his reflections on the particular character of democracy in France.

La puissance des clichés langagiers dans La Cousine Bette de Balzac : entre le dévoilement de stéréotypes et leur reconnaissance par le lecteur contemporain

The aim of this article is to examine the stereotypy in Balzac’s novel Cousin Bette, by relying on the scene of a famous confrontation between Célestin Crevel and his metaphysical opposite – Baroness Hulot d’Ervy. José-Luis Diaz underlines that the Balzacian stereotype imposes itself as the imitation of the social norm and all kinds of linguistic, sartorial, behavioral automatisms etc. His research justifies the use of the concept of stereotype in relation to Balzac’s creation, especially because the nineteenth century only knows its meaning in printing. Thanks to the notion of stereotype, we can question on its influence on the behavior of the protagonists. We are also able to identify the character of the social norm of the time and its regulatory mechanisms. On the one hand, the excessively fixed language, like the cliché, allows the writer to imitate the material preoccupations of the bourgeoisie under the July Monarchy by forging, in the reader’s mind, his negative image. On the other hand, this analysis shows that the protagonist’s expression goes beyond linguistic mimicry. The stereotype allows a certain stylistic originality by which the protagonists give the reader a look into their belief systems. In this sense, the stereotype is a mechanism of regulation : it complicates the characters, creates an impression of reality. Finally, this stylistic enity capture the reader’s attention with logically permissible ideas that are morally unacceptable.

The Formation of Occultist Identities Amidst the Theosophy and Socialism of fin-de-siècle France

Fin-de-siècle occultism is usually analyzed within the context of the „occult revival” that implies the modernization of the older esoteric tradition. However, this notion is rooted in the defi ning esoteric discourses at the end of the nineteenth century. This article discusses two major aspects of these discourses. First, French esotericists polemically distanced themselves from the „Eastern” esotericism of the Theosophical Society by constructing an ésotérisme occidental. This separation of „East” and „West” occurred as a reaction to the T.S., and should thus be seen as a „nationalist” response to a global phenomenon. The second major aspect of occultist identity formations is socialism. Fin-de-siècle occultists were deeply interested in the socialist theories formulated during the July Monarchy but ambiguously distanced themselves from contemporary „materialist” socialisms.

Life sentence as a type of criminal punishment in France of the late XVIII – early XIX centuries

This article questions the opinion established in modern French historiography on implementation of life sentence as a criminal punishment under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte (in accordance with the Criminal Code of 1810). Leaning on examination of legislative, policy drafting, and court materials, the author traces the evolution of the system of criminal penalties associated with incarceration. and determines the role of life sentence therein – since the adoption of first criminal laws in the era Great Revolution until the revision Napoleonic Criminal Code in 1832, and the court of Peers under Louis-Philippe I. The acquires materials demonstrate that after long absence of the  Consulate and Early Empire in the time of Revolution,  life sentence was envisaged by the Criminal Code of 1810 as an alternative measure to penal servitude for life or deportation (for criminals of senior age), rather than an separate type of criminal punishment. Reference to the practice of the court of Peers during the Restoration and the July Monarchy suggests that life sentence became a separate type of criminal punishment only with the advent of verdict passed by Peers with regards to 1830 case of former ministers. This sentence was based on the combination of legislative and court functions in actions of the Chamber of Peers as higher justice authority, and thus was of constitutive nature. The conclusion is made that the implementation of life sentence in French criminal law should be attributed to the time of the July Monarchy rather than the ruling of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Alexis de Tocqueville's Reluctant “Democratic Language”

Many readers of Alexis de Tocqueville have noted the ambiguity in his formulation of the term “democracy.” This essay suggests that this ambiguity can be clarified by considering what Tocqueville calls “democratic language”—i.e., the use of generalizations, abstractions, and personifications in writing and speech. Tocqueville investigates these novel linguistic devices to understand the transformation of language in democratic times. More importantly, he employs them to appropriate the Doctrinaires’ formulation of democracy and to criticize their legitimation of the July Monarchy's exclusive government. Yet Tocqueville's use of democratic language is a reluctant one. He finds that the tendency to use abstract and personified concepts obfuscates the political agency of citizens. Wary of the despotic effects of such obfuscation, Tocqueville argues that individuals must practice their concepts. In the context of the July Monarchy, this becomes a call for the extension of democratic rights and institutions.

The Meaning of Freedom: Slave Self-Purchase and the Making of Free Labour in Martinique

This article examines the introduction of legalized slave savings and compulsory slave self-purchase—the pécule légal and rachat forcé—by the Mackau Laws in the French colony of Martinique in the last years of the July Monarchy. Drawing on official correspondence, political debates, published pamphlets and individual cases of slave self-purchase, it examines official efforts to replace a system of bondage rooted in direct, personal domination and explicit violence with a system of colonial labour based on free labour and impersonal social controls. Their efforts were profoundly shaped by two sets of actors: members of the pro-slavery lobby and the enslaved. Together these two groups defined a minimal standard of free labour that would have far-reaching impact on colonial labour policy in the post-emancipation period.