The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad

The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad Fareed Zakaria Date: April, 2003   —   $17.47   —   Book product page Rating:

In early 2003, when President Bush was insisting that no decision had been made on the invasion of Iraq, but everyone knew he was going to do it anyway, I picked up Fareed Zakaria's book, "The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad". Everybody (except the Bush administration) was starting to speculate on what a post-Saddam Iraq might look like, and I got interested.

Zakaria starts out by stating the difference between democracy and liberty with a quote by Richard Holbrooke about Yugoslavia in the 1990's, "Suppose elections are free and fair and those elected are racists, fascists, separatists," Zakaria makes the point that democracy, meaning universal suffrage, has nothing intrinsically to do with liberty, which he defines as freedoms of speech, assembly, religion, and property. Although we in the United States take for granted that democracy means freedom; that is not necessarily so. After all, Zakaria points out; Hitler became chancellor of Germany via free elections.

The first half of the book gives a concise history of democracy and liberty, followed by their application to the Middle East. Zakaria feels it is better to start an Islamic country, not with democracy, but with constitutional liberalism. Only after a tradition of liberty and freedom have been established, can democracy be implemented in a way that doesn't tear a country apart. So it's interesting to watch the Bush administration set, as their nation-building goal in Afghanistan and Iraq, the implementation of free elections as if that alone will guarantee liberty for the citizens of those countries. It's as if Bush has set out to prove Zakaria's hypothesis by doing the opposite.

The second half of the book deals with the concept that the United States may be too democratic. Zakaria attributes the decline of participation and trust in politics to the fact that "America is increasingly embracing a simple-minded populism that values popularity and openness as the key measures of legitimacy." He blames the "democratization of politics" for the rise of the special interest groups and lobbyists that now run Washington. Zakaria says, "What has changed in Washington is not that politicians have closed themselves off from the American people and are unwilling to hear their pleas. It is that they scarcely do anything but listen to the American people.

Zakaria cites a Churchill anecdote: During World War II, Churchill was advised to "keep his ear to the ground." He responded by pointing out that "the British nation will find it very hard to look up to leaders who are detected in this position." Zakaria says, "The American people have watched their leaders bow and scrape before them for the last three decades - and they are repulsed by it."

I really can't say enough good things about this book. It's an insightful look at why, around the world, democracy is flourishing; but liberty is not. It's a biting commentary on the current state of democracy and liberty in the United States. It helped me put my finger on the biggest problem with politics in my home state of California: the referendum system. 80% of all revenue generated by California has been earmarked through referendums by the people of California, rather than by elected officials and economists. As a result, there is no flexibility in the state budget to handle something like the recent energy crises which was manufactured by energy companies like Enron to bilk the state out of billions of dollars.

But that's a different story. Suffice it to say that "The Future of Freedom" is required reading for anyone interested in politics.