The Tocqueville Center for the Study of Democracy and Society is an intellectual community devoted to seeking the truth about the moral and philosophic questions at the heart of political life.  We host curricular and extracurricular activities designed to help students and faculty to engage seriously with the most powerful arguments behind diverse and competing religious, political and ethical points of view.

Our work is undertaken in the hope that the practice of shared, disciplined inquiry into disputed questions can help us understand better how to maintain the delicate fabric of our civilization. Our center takes its name from Alexis de Tocqueville, a 19th-century French author, statesman, and traveler who developed a “new science of politics” focused on the study of the modern democratic soul.  On the contested, partisan questions of his time, Tocqueville “undertook to see, not differently, but further than the parties.”  We seek to follow his example.

Upcoming Lectures

January 24-25, 2024: Civic Associations in America

  “Americans of all ages, all stations of life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations" (Democracy in America).   PART 1 - JANUARY 24, 2024 PART 2 - JANUARY 25, 2024   Scholars-in-Residence:...

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An Interview with Robert Putnam: On the Big Questions of Political Science and Method

  By: Elizabeth L’Arrivee Furman University, January 25, 2024    Elizabeth: Your book, Bowling Alone, was the first political science work that really caught my attention because it seemed like you had a different methodological...

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February 27-28, 2024: Conservativism in America

  “The state of society and the Constitution in America are democratic, but there has been no democratic revolution. They were pretty well as they now are when they first arrived in the land. That...

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Tocqueville Lecture Series

Tocqueville Lecture Series

The Tocqueville Center lecture series brings to Furman’s campus prominent scholars and public intellectuals who exemplify the Tocquevillean approach to political thought.

Tocqueville Fellows Program

Tocqueville Fellows Program

The Tocqueville Fellows Program cultivates a select group of students interested in political philosophy.

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Meet Our Faculty

Meet Our Faculty

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