French imperial liberalism in the 19th Century

Abstract EN

Liberalism is presented as a universal creed that needs to be adopted if states are to achieve democratic values.

A claim that is not different from that of international law being a law among sovereigns where states are equal, this is precisely why this paper will use Antony Anghie's theory about IL and how it developed out of the colonial encounter instead of being an exported ready European product.

The paper will use this theory as a lens to evaluate whether liberalism has an imperial core much like IL, the focus will be on 19th century liberalism in France, with Tocqueville's writings at the center since he is presented as the theoretician of democracy because of his book “democracy in America” but what is often disregarded is his works about Algeria, which depicts a completely different image of the leading French liberal of the 19th century.