Democracy Against Liberalism

It should not surprise anyone that democracies can become dangerously illiberal; indeed, it was one of the classical critiques of ancient democracies. Is the contemporary backlash against liberal democracy merely the same old story, or are we witnessing something unprecedented?  In this witty and engaging book, Aviezer Tucker argues that the contemporary revival of authoritarian populism combines the historically familiar with new technologies to produce a highly unstable and contagious new synthesis that threatens basic liberal norms, from freedom of the press to independent judiciaries. He examines how the economic crisis blocked social mobility and thereby awakened the dark, dormant political passions exploited by demagogues such as Orban and Trump. He argues that this slide towards ‘neo-illiberal democracy’ can be countered if we hard-headedly restore a ‘liberalism without nostalgia’ which institutes policies that can dampen down populist passions and strengthen liberal institutional barriers against them.  Readers interested in current affairs, social science, history, and political and social theory will find Aviezer Tucker’s original theoretical and historical analysis incisive, innovative, and entertaining.

1 What’s Your Problem? Illiberalism, Populism, Authoritarianism Democracy vs. Authoritarianism Liberalism vs. Absolutism Populism vs. Technocracy Eight Regimes The Scope of Neo-Illiberal Democracy Weimar, Jackson, Singapore Plan of the Book 2 Illiberal Democracy: Old Hemlock in Plastic Cups The Self-Destruction of Absolute Democracy Neo-Illiberal Unbalancing of the Liberal Checks The Judiciary Civil Service Civil Society and Independent Institutions Unmediated Politics Media Disinformation Populism as Wishful Thinking Historical Amnesia and Sisyphean Politics Neo-Illiberalism is not Neo-Nationalist Neo-Illiberalism is not an Over-Reaction to Immigration Neo-Illiberalism is not Confused Socialism 3 All the Roads Lead to Caesarea Post-Post-Totalitarian Pathway Path Dependency II A House Divided: Prognostic Instability Budapest on the Potomac The Surf Beaches of Utopia Dynamic Equilibria 4 It Ain’t Necessarily So: The Historical Evitability of Neo-Illiberal Democracy Historical Evitability A Contemporary Case for Economic Inevitability What happened? Contingencies Hungary Brexit Trump 5 New Liberalism without Nostalgia Preempting Populism Universal Basic Income Dispersing the Anonymous Mob: Tracing Electronic Origins Historical Education and Commemoration Breaking the Glass Barriers to Mobility Geographic Mobility Strengthening Liberal Institutions Democratic Election Systems New Liberalism without Nostalgia References Index