Political Geography: Global Focus / Topic: Illiberal Democracy

Author:: Yascha Mounk
Publication Date:: 01-2020
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Democracy
Institution:: National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:: Until a few years ago, many argued that liberal democracy was the most just and attractive political regime. The most prominent manifestation of this optimism was Francis Fukuyama’s thesis of the “end of history.” Ironically, many of the same social scientists who dismissed Fukuyama’s work out of hand at the time were themselves committed to equally far-reaching assumptions. Now, as the tides of history are rapidly turning, the hypotheses of theory are being reversed. Indeed, some authors today predict that as the conditions that made liberal democracy possible fade away, it is likely to be supplanted by illiberal democracy, competitive authoritarianism, or outright dictatorship. Such conclusions risk being just as rash as the more optimistic ones that preceded them.
Topic:: Democracy, Populism, and Illiberal Democracy
Political Geography:: Global Focus

Author:: Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes
Publication Date:: 07-2018
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Democracy
Institution:: National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:: For countries emerging from communism, the post-1989 imperative to “be like the West” has generated discontent and even a “return of the repressed,” as the region feels old nationalist stirrings and new demographic pressures. The origins of the region’s current illiberalism are emotional and preideological, rooted in rebellion at the humiliations that accompany a project requiring acknowledgment of a foreign culture as superior to one’s own. Further contributing to illiberalism in the region is a largely unspoken preoccupation with demographic collapse—resulting from aging populations, low birth rates, and massive outmigration—which manifests as a fear that the arrival of unassimilable foreigners will dilute national identities and weaken national cohesion.
Topic:: Nationalism, Post Cold War, and Illiberal Democracy
Political Geography:: Global Focus

Author:: Sheri Berman
Publication Date:: 07-2017
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Democracy
Institution:: National Endowment for Democracy
Abstract:: Over the past decade illiberal democracy has spread across the globe. Many analysts argue that democracy itself is to blame. Democracy is all about empowering the people, but, according to this line of argument, the people can be moved by passions and self-interest, and their unchecked rule can lead to tyrannical majoritarianism. While illiberal democracy is certainly worrying, many of its critics fundamentally misunderstand how democracy has traditionally developed and what its historical relationship with liberalism has been. Rather than the norm, liberal democracy has been the exception. Moreover, illiberal democracy is most often a stage on the route to liberal democracy rather than the endpoint of a country’s political trajectory. In addition, although democracy unchecked by liberalism can slide into tyrannical majoritarianism, liberalism unchecked by democracy can easily deteriorate into elitist oligarchy.
Topic:: Democracy, Liberal Order, Elites, and Illiberal Democracy
Political Geography:: Global Focus

Author:: Molly Elgin-Cossart, Trevor Sutton, and Kathryn Sachs
Publication Date:: 03-2016
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for American Progress - CAP
Abstract:: It is tempting to think that in a globalized, interconnected world, values such as democracy, human rights, and freedom would naturally converge. Instead, there is divergence, with some countries becoming more open and inclusive and others more closed. The past few years, especially, have seen the growing repression of civil society by authoritarian leaders. Repressive regimes block Internet activities; control online content; and use the Internet and mobile communications to track, target, harass, and prosecute activists. Shifts in geopolitical power toward governments such as China—those that embrace illiberal models and narrow space for civil society—have challenged the spread of norms such as openness and participation. Crackdowns in Russia, Hungary, Venezuela, and many other places show an alarming suppression of freedom of expression and a resurgence of authoritarianism. Yet in the midst of this seeming retrenchment, a promising initiative has shown that the global appetite for transparent, participatory, and accountable governments remains unsatiated.
Topic:: Civil Society, Multiculturalism, Repression, Transparency, Participation, and Illiberal Democracy
Political Geography:: Global Focus

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