Illiberal democracy

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An illiberal democracy, also called a pseudo democracy, partial democracy, low intensity democracy, empty democracy, hybrid regime or delegative democracy,^[1] is a governing system in which, although elections take place, citizens are cut off from knowledge about the activities of those who exercise real power because of the lack of civil liberties. It is not an 'open society'. There are many countries “that are categorized as neither “free” nor “ not free,” but as “probably free,” falling somewhere between democratic and nondemocratic regimes”.^[2] This may be because a constitution limiting government powers exists, but its liberties are ignored, or because an adequate legal constitutional framework of liberties does not exist. The term illiberal democracy was used by Fareed Zakaria in a regularly cited 1997 article in the journal Foreign Affairs.^[3]

According to Fareed Zakaria, illiberal democracies are increasing around the world and are increasingly limiting the freedoms of the people they represent. Zakaria points out that in the west, democracy and free and fair elections go hand in hand. But around the world, the two concepts are coming apart. He argues that democracy without constitutional liberalism is producing centralized regimes, the erosion of liberty, ethnic competition, conflict, and war. He points out Russia is democratic but because of Putin’s super presidency, illiberal. In order to solve this problem, Zakaria proposes that the international community and the United States must end their obsession with balloting and promote gradual liberalization of societies. Zakaria advances institutions like the world trade organization, the Federal Reserve System and the judicial system to promote democracy and limit the power of people which can be destructive.^[4] Illiberal democratic governments may believe they have a mandate to act in any way they see fit as long as they hold regular elections. Lack of liberties such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly make opposition extremely difficult. The rulers may centralize powers between branches of the central government and local government (having no separation of powers). Media are often controlled by the state and strongly support the regime. Non-governmental organizations may face onerous regulations or simply be prohibited. The regime may use red tape, economic pressure or violence against its critics.

There is a spectrum of illiberal democracies: from those that are nearly liberal democracies to those that are almost openly dictatorships. One proposed method of determining whether a regime is an illiberal democracy is to determine whether "it has regular, free, fair, and competitive elections to fill the principal positions of power in the country, but it does not qualify as Free in Freedom House's annual ratings of civil liberties and political rights."^[5]

Terminological controversy

Other writers^[who?] reject the concept of an illiberal democracy, saying it only "muddies the waters" on the basis that it if a country does not have opposition parties and an independent media, it is not democratic.^[6] Scholars such as Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way argue that terms like "illiberal democracy" are inappropriate for some of these states, because the term implies that these regimes are, at their heart, democracies that have gone wrong. Levitsky and Way argue that states such as Serbia under Slobodan Milosevic, Zimbabwe, and post-Soviet Russia, were never truly democratic and not developing toward democracy, but were rather tending toward authoritarian behaviour, despite having elections (which were sometimes sharply contested).

Thus, Levitsky and Way coined a new term to remove the positive connotation of democracy from these states and distinguish them from flawed or developing democracies: competitive authoritarianism.^[7]

Tentative illustration

In contrast to these disputed examples^[which?], a classic example of an illiberal democracy is the Republic of Singapore.^[8] Conversely, liberal autocracies are regimes with no elections and that are ruled autocratically but have some liberties. Here, a good example is the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. Both Hong Kong and Singapore are ethnic Chinese majority city-states and former British colonies. However, their political evolution has taken different paths, with Hong Kong residents enjoying the liberal freedoms of the United Kingdom, but, as a colony, without the power to choose its leaders.^[9] This contradictory state of affairs was inherited by the People's Republic of China when it resumed control of the territory in 1997. In contrast, Singapore acquired full independence, first from Britain and then from Malaysia in the 1960s. At that time, it was structured as a relatively liberal democracy, albeit with some internal security laws that allowed for detention without trial. Over time, as Singapore's People's Action Party government consolidated power in the 1960s and 1970s, it enacted a number of laws and policies that curtailed constitutional freedoms (such as the right to assemble or form associations, bearing in mind that there were race and religious riots at this times), and extended its influence over the media, unions, NGOs and academia. Consequently, although technically free and fair multi-party elections are regularly conducted, the political realities in Singapore (including fear and self-censorship) make participation in opposition politics extremely difficult, leaving the dominant ruling party as the only credible option at the polls.^[10] In Russia, the disturbing rate of journalist murder shows the limits of freedom of speech in Russia. 13 Russian journalists died between 2000 and 2003. Also, the major television networks are owned by the government and openly support it or parties that support the government during elections.^[11]

See also

• Liberal democracy
• Representative democracy
• Political corruption
• Totalitarian democracy
• Dominant-party system
• State inside a state

References

1. ^ Juan Carlos Calleros, Calleros-Alarcó,The Unifinished Transition to Democracy in Latin America, Routledge, 2009, p1
2. ^ O'Neil, Patrick. Essentials of Comparative Politics. 3rd ed. New York, N.Y: W. W Norton & Company, 2010. 162-163. Print.
3. ^ The Rise of Illiberal Democracy, Foreign Affairs, November/December 1997.
4. ^ http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/53577/fareed-zakaria/the-rise-of-illiberal-democracy. "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy". Foreign Affairs. November/December 1997. Accessed date, june 30, 2011.
5. ^ Diamond, Larry & Morlino Leonardo. Assessing the Quality of Democracy, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005, p. xli
6. ^ Halperin, M. H., Siegle, J. T. & Weinstein, M. M. The Democracy Advantage: How Democracies Promote Prosperity and Peace. Routledge, 2005. pp. 10. ISBN 978-0415950527.
7. ^ Levitsky, Steven & Lucan Way. Assessing the Quality of Democracy, Journal of Democracy, April 2002, vol. 13.2, pp. 51-65
8. ^ Mutalib , H. Illiberal democracy and the future of opposition in Singapore. Third World Quarterly, 2000. 21(2), pp. 313-342.
9. ^ Ma, Ngok. Political Development in Hong Kong: State, Political Society, and Civil Society. Hong Kong University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-9622098107.
10. ^ Russia had also moved towards a period of democracy in the early 1990s, but whilst elections remain in place, state control of media is increasing and opposition is difficult.ref>Whatever happened to glasnost?, BBC News, February 7, 2009.
11. ^ http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/courses/teachers_corner/32074.html. Illiberal Democracy and Vladimir Putin's Russia. "Collegeboard". July 2004

Further reading

• Bell, Daniel, Brown, David & Jayasuriya, Kanishka (1995) Towards Illiberal Democracy in Pacific Asia, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0333613993.
• Thomas, Nick & Thomas, Nicholas. (1999) Democracy Denied: Identity, Civil Society, and Illiberal Democracy in Hong Kong, Ashgate, ISBN 978-1840147605.
• Zakaria, Fareed. (2007) The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393331523.

External links

• The Rise of Illiberal Democracy, Fareed Zakaria, Foreign Affairs, November/ December 1997
• Liberalism and Democracy: Can't have one without the other, Marc Plattner, Foreign Affairs, March/ April 1998
• Illiberal Democracy, Five Years Later, Fareed Zakaria, Havard International Review, Summer 2002.