Tag Archives: abuse of power

Alexis de Tocqueville and the Totalitarian Abuse of Power in Democracies

Alexis de Tocqueville Getty

  Many famous authors have discussed the dangers of misuse of power in democracy, among them the nineteenth-century philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville. In Democracy in America, he pointed out how easy it is for a democracy to turn totalitarian if it becomes the tyranny of the mob. It would be an ochlocracy, as the ancient Greeks called it, an extreme …

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