National Character in <i>De la démocratie en Amérique</i>

The article deals with the national character in relation to Tocqueville and his Démocratie en Amérique. Tocqueville lives in a cultural environment in which numerous authors use the notion of character, but he appears much more aware than them of the problems connected to it. The hypothesis is that the theory of national characters can highlight elements present in Tocqueville’s reflections that have so far been left in the background or remained unexplained, as well as adding further meanings to his best-known theses.