Illiberal vs.

Liberal Democracy
Fareed Zakaria

Zakarias Points

There has been a recent wave of global democratization

188 of the worlds 193 countries are democratic 54% of the worlds population now live under a democratic form of government

There is a problem with this wave of democratization however..

50% of these democratizing nations rank higher on Freedom Houses political liberties index than they do on its civil liberties index. Consequently, they rank as illiberal democracies.

Zakarias Points

These countries are moving rapidly toward incorporating even more illiberal features (less institutional protections of civil liberties) Fukuyamas conclusion that Western Liberalism has triumphed is premature. Liberal democracy is but one of several democratic models that may develop. Illiberal democracy represents an alternative model.

Zakarias Points

Illiberal Democracy:

Process:

Competitive Multiparty Elections

Liberal Democracy:

Free, Open, and Fair Elections

No coercive state structures Universal Suffrage Laws that maintain competitive rules for all parties

Zakarias Points

Freedom of the Press Public Space for Debate Popular Sovereignty (the people are the original source of authority via granting their consent to be governed by a representative legislature (this infers a social contract) Majority Rule Balanced with Minority Rights Limited Government Institutional Checks and Balances The Rule of Law (this includes political processes) Tolerance (Pluralism). This includes freedom of religion and of speech. Individual Political and Economic Rights A conception of Natural Law (or at least some objective source of rights)

Zakarias Points

Examples of Democracies with Illiberal Features:

Unitary, non-constitutional, communitarian, democracies such as:

Sweden: highly communitarian.restrictive of individual property rights France: State media monopoly England: An established state religion The United States before universal suffrage was achieved

Liberalism comes from different sources than does democratic process:

Philosophy:

Greek philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) Roman republicanism Hobbes Locke Madison British Lords at Runnymede (Magna Carta) brought about the republican legislatures of Great Britain (House of Lords and House of Commons))

Non-democratic political actors:

Zakarias Points

Many countries developed into liberal nations before they ever incorporated democratic features. After WWII, many East Asian countries turned toward authoritarianism. Each moved however, over time, from autocracies to liberalizing autocracies and, in some cases, liberalizing semi-democracies. Constitutional liberalism, therefore, leads to democracy. Democracy (or merely democratic process), on the other hand, does not seem to lead to constitutional liberalism.

Zakarias Points

Constitutional Liberalism focuses on limiting the scope of government power. Democracy focuses on increasing the scope of government power (as a tool to achieve the objectives of the will of the electorate) In authoritarian regimes transitioning toward democracy, executive leaders elected through the democratic process (with no provisions for protection of the minority perspective) act as if they have mandates from the people to usurp legislative authority and codify traditional ethnic rivalries and animosities. This leads back to authoritarianism and the traditional conflicts that typified the pre-democratic state.