The Rise of Illiberal Democracy

The American diplomat Richard Holbrooke pondered a problem on the eve of the September 1996 elections in Bosnia, which were meant to restore civic life to that ravaged country. Suppose the election was declared free and fair, he said, and those elected are racists, fascists, separatists, who are publicly opposed to peace and r?int?gration. That is the dilemma. Indeed it is, not just in the former Yugoslavia, but increasingly around the world. Democratically elected regimes, often ones that have been reelected or reaffirmed through referenda, are routinely ignoring constitutional limits on their power and depriving their citizens of basic rights and freedoms. From Peru to the Palestinian Authority, from Sierra Leone to Slovakia, from Pakistan to the Philip pines, we see the rise of a disturbing phenomenon in international life? illiberal democracy. It has been difficult to recognize this problem because for almost a century in the West, democracy has meant liberal democracy?a political system marked not only by free and fair elections, but also by the rule of law, a separation of powers, and the protection of basic liberties of speech, assembly, religion, and property. In fact, this latter bundle of freedoms?what might be termed constitu tional liberalism?is theoretically different and historically distinct