About
At universities and among academically trained professionals, left-progressive thinking is dominant. This is strongly encouraged by government funding. Higher education graduates consequently face an atmosphere in which our civilisational tradition receives scarcely any positive attention. Important insights thus become suppressed and forgotten. New media and political parties that offer an alternative voice need depth, ideas and vision to truly chart a different course. Society clearly wants to move in a different direction, but the framework for this is lacking.
The solution to this problem consists of a sustainable network of higher education graduates with sympathy for ordered freedom in the Western tradition, beyond old categories of ideology and pillarisation ('classical liberal', 'conservative', 'Christian democratic'), and independent of political parties or religious groupings. Leaders of today and tomorrow, ranging in age from those in their twenties to those in their eighties, can thus meet one another and sharpen their knowledge. In this way, timeless ideas remain alive and influential, free from dogma.
Mission & Vision
Our mission is to bring together people, organisations and ideas of academic standard in a structured manner in defence of ordered freedom in the Western tradition, and to bring the results of this to broad public attention. We nourish cultural capital by serving as an intellectual foundation for change and help to shift the public discussion. In doing so, we care not only for the Netherlands of today, but particularly for that of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
Our vision is a well-functioning democracy, a flourishing civil society and civic entrepreneurship — in short, a free society of responsible citizens and organisations.
To carry out our mission, we bridge fundamental sources and the folly of the day. We concern ourselves with questions such as 'What is the foundation of the rule of law and how can it best be protected in our time?' Or: 'What is the proper role of local government and to what extent does Dutch practice deviate from this?' On these matters we encourage high-level debate where this does not yet exist, as much as possible in collaboration with partner organisations with overlapping missions and interests.
Our background
The Tocqueville Network is the 2.0 version and independence of the Dutch branch of the Common Sense Society. It is thus a new idea, but with the advantage of years of practical experience. Think of organising discussions and networking events with writers such as Martin Sommer, Josse de Voogd and Rod Dreher, and professors such as Lex Hoogduin, Gabriël van den Brink, Stefan Kolev, Lucas Bergkamp, Frank Pieke, Ulrike Ackermann, Patricia Commun, Govert Buijs, Mattias Desmet and Olaf Sleijpen.
The Tocqueville Network finds inspiration for its principles in Alexis de Tocqueville, the most profound thinker on modern democracy. Like him, we stand for liberty, human dignity and democracy. In doing so, we are a caring and principled friend of modern democracy, but we do not take more specific political positions.