Liberty and Justice for All presents another summary of Zakaria’s The Future of Freedom:
Nations that establish democracy without first guaranteeing their citizens freedom typically become what Zakaria terms “illiberal democracies.” During the 4th century B.C., while Athens enjoyed a golden age of democracy, its popular assembly voted to put Socrates to death for corrupting Athenian youth with philosophy. That was democratic, Zakaria writes, “but not liberal.” Post-revolutionary France was ruled by a democratic National Assembly, but the bloodbath it created during its reign of terror was profoundly illiberal. Today, Zakaria notes, Yasser Arafat is the only Arab leader who is chosen through “reasonably free elections.” But though democratic, the Palestinian Authority is not remotely liberal, as Western journalists who have been harassed by its functionaries will readily attest.
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The problem with democratic governance, Zakaria argues, isn’t merely that it won’t automatically protect the freedom of its citizens. It’s also that it may well undermine freedom unless freedom has already been guaranteed through the prior establishment of an independent judiciary, a free press and other components of what Zakaria calls “constitutional liberalism.” (He uses the term “liberal” in its 19th-century sense, “tending to enhance the freedom of individuals and limit the power of government.”) Echoing James Madison and Alexis de Tocqueville, Zakaria writes that a majority will incline toward tyranny unless forced to accommodate certain individual and minority rights. It may also degenerate quickly into autocracy and dictatorship, a process that he notes is well under way in Russia and has played out many times in sub-Saharan Africa.