Illiberal democracy

The term illiberal democracy is used to describe a special kind of authoritarian representative democracy, in which politicians are indeed elected by the people, but do not respect the fundamental rights and effectively limit. The term was first described in an article in the political journal Foreign Affairs by Fareed Zakaria in 1997.

Illiberal democracies are found primarily outside the Western world, subject to democratization processes in countries whose political past knows no pluralism. Without this tradition of peaceful coexistence of different political ideas the actions of democratically elected parties or heads of state restricts individual freedoms and fundamental rights. This can happen if the Constitution of the State commits no protection of these freedoms, or the regime flouts them. This is due to the adoption of the ruling group to act that it was authorized by the choice of the population, as it sees fit, without regard to existing laws, as long as it only prevents elections regularly.

Often this political power is centralized, that is, there is either no separation of powers, or various independent institutions of administration are resolved, so that the government can exert direct influence on the levels of government. Another important feature is the lack of civil rights and liberties, such as freedom of expression and freedom of the opposition. Furthermore, the public media are often controlled by the state and support the regime. Non-governmental organizations may be subject to restrictions or be banned altogether. Critics are beset by bureaucracy, economic pressure, or even violence.

The spectrum of illiberal democracies extends far: those which may be regarded as liberal democracies almost, to those that are more like dictatorships. Examples can be found in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Many illiberal democracies have emerged in the mid and late 90s.

The following Eastern European countries were called illiberal democracies:

• Serbia under Slobodan Milošević 1990-2000
• Croatia under Franjo Tuđman 1990-1999
• Slovakia under Vladimir Meciar 1994-1998
• Albania Sali Berisha 1992-1997
• Ukraine under Leonid Kuchma 1994-2005