Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  • Cited by 15
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
April 2016
Print publication year:
2016
Online ISBN:
9781316392775

Book description

Democracy in Moderation views constitutional liberal democracy as grounded in a principle of avoiding extremes and striking the right balance among its defining principles of liberty, equality, religion, and sustainable order, thus tempering tendencies toward sectarian excess. Such moderation originally informed liberal democracy, but now is neglected. Moderation can guide us intellectually and practically about domestic and foreign policy debates, but also serve the sustainability of the constitutional, liberal republic as a whole. Our recent theory thus doesn't help our practice, given our concerns about polarization and sectarianism in ideas, policy, and politics. A rediscovery of Montesquieu and his legacy in shaping America's complex political order, including influence on Washington's practical moderation and Tocqueville's philosophical moderation, addresses these enduring theoretical and practical problems. Moderation also offers a deeper theory of leadership or statesmanship, particularly regarding religion and politics, and of foreign policy and strategy rooted in liberal democracy's first principles.

Reviews

'In Democracy in Moderation: Montesquieu, Tocqueville, and Sustainable Liberalism, Paul O.Carrese puts the political turbulence of the present moment in perspective. The propensity toward partisanship and polarization so conspicuous in today’s politics, he observes, has antecedents in America’s founding. But also present at the founding, he argues, was a sophisticated 'philosophy of moderation' that underwrote American constitutional government.'

Peter Berkowitz Source: Real Clear Politics (www.realclearpolitics.com)

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
×

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.