SOURCE: “The Modern Democratic Revolution: Reflections on Jean-François Lyotard's La condition postmoderne,” in Chicago Review, Vol. 35, No. 4, Spring, 1987, pp. 4-19.

In the following essay, Keane argues that Lyotard's postmodernism can be seen as a “political ally of the modern democratic project” described by Alexis de Tocqueville.

No sooner do you set foot upon American soil then you are stunned by a type of tumult; a confused clamor is heard everywhere, and a thousand voices simultaneously demand the satisfaction of their social needs. Everything is in motion around you; here the people of one town district are meeting to decide upon the building of a church; there the election of a representative is taking place; a little farther on, the delegates of a district are hastening to town in order to consult about some local improvements; elsewhere, the laborers of a village quit their ploughs to deliberate upon...