Soft despotism

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Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by self-interest might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people. In a soft despotism, people may have the illusion that they are in a democracy, when in fact they have no influence in the government. Alexis de Tocqueville observed that this trend was avoided in America only by the "habits of the heart" of its 19th-century populace. {quote from Alexis de Tocqueville's book Democracy in America }

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