Preface

Stanley Hoffmann recently began a process of phased retirement from his half century of teaching at Harvard University. One might be forgiven for not noticing. This year he launched a new interdisciplinary course on the war in Iraq and next year will offer a new undergraduate seminar on the French democratic tradition. As always, these dual intellectual passions—to bring lucidity and insight to the study of international relations and to place the gripping drama of French democracy in comparative perspective—structure his life and work.

We are very pleased to devote this issue to reflections by Stanley's friends and students on these fundamental concerns. "Friends and students of Stanley Hoffmann," it must be said, is ultimately one category, since he has a genius for befriending his students and setting his friends off on new intellectual paths. More often than not these paths are Tocquevillean ones, winding through the territories of democratic ethics, economics, politics, and culture. Thus it is particularly fitting that The Tocqueville Review/la revue Tocqueville should honor his contribution to Tocqueville's legacy in political science, and we thank him for agreeing to edit this special issue of the Review.