Volume 16, 2011
L. Joseph Hebert
Pages 241-258
Tocqueville’s “Administrative Decentralization” and the Catholic Principle of Subsidiarity
This article offers an outline of administrative decentralization, subsidiarity, and related principles as they emerge from Tocqueville’s account of American democracy and the social teachings of the Catholic Church, respectively, accompanied by an analysis of the philosophic and theological underpinnings of each account. This analysis reveals a profound theoretical as well as practical harmony between the two notions: namely, that both are grounded in the potential of human beings to perfect themselves through virtuous actions, which society must foster in a fashion that preserves the freedom of citizens, who can achieve the
common good only by taking active responsibility for it.