Analaysis of Liberty in Societ

Both Adam Smith and Alexis de Tocqueville agree that an individual is the most qualified to make decisions affecting the sphere of the individual as long as those decisions do not violate the law of justice. From this starting point, each theorist proposes a role of government and comments on human nature and civil society. Smith focuses on economic liberty and the ways in which government can repress this liberty, to the detriment of society. …

…thepower of the market and for a laissez-faire governmental policy. Unfortunately, his theory fails to account for the societal problems such as maintenance of the poor. Alexis de Tocqueville's theory uses the same considerations of individual rights and self-interested motives, but examines more closely the societal institutions which can balance governmental action. He therefore relegates a larger role to government which includes a duty to take care of its members through legislation aimed at liberty.