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Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 11 November 1947. 1 No. Illiberalism has not yet brought the West to the brink of collapse. But the populist radical right surge that has hit both sides of the Atlantic in recent years has revealed failures of and weaknesses in
The West of which we speak is defined by the values of liberal democracy, individual freedom, human rights, tolerance and equality under the rule of law. This book explores how Islamist terror and Russian aggression as companion threats to the West when terrorists target Russia as well as the United States and its allies. The threats posed by Islamist terror and Russian aggression present themselves in very different ways. In the time of transatlantic traumas, the Islamist terrorist threat and the Russian threat have worked diligently and with some success. The book examines the hatred of Islamists towards Western democracies, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union for their involvement in the Middle East politics for several decades. There is no single explanation for the rising popularity of illiberalism in the Western democracies; a combination of factors has produced a general sense of malaise. The book discusses the sources of discontent prevailing in the Western countries, and looks at the rise of Trumpism, Turkey and its Western values as well as the domestic tensions between Turkey's political parties. It suggests a radical centrist populist Western strategy could be applied to deal with the threats and challenges, reinvigorating the Western system. The book also touches upon suggestions relating to illiberalism in Europe, Turkey's drift away from the West, and the Brexit referendum.
liberal democracy. Such politicians and parties have thrown around their political weight in several countries, exercising power in some, including the United States, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland and Turkey. Sources of discontent There is no single explanation for the rising popularity of illiberalism, but a combination of factors has produced a general sense of malaise. The Great Recession, starting in 2008, left millions of Americans and Europeans without jobs and in debt. While the job market has recovered, real wages have not, and a significant portion of
authoritarian, illiberal government structure with power transferred to the executive is incompatible with Western ideals of democracy and the rule of law. Erdoğan’s post-coup purges also threaten to weaken Turkey’s military and thus the security of NATO. Many officers assigned to NATO were recalled and presumably many who returned to Turkey have ended up in jail, including as much as a third of Turkey’s officer corps. Some officers on NATO duty sought asylum in NATO countries to escape that fate. In the foreseeable future, it would be nearly impossible to resume EU
– individual liberty, human rights, and so on – and that the West can be defined as synonymous with these values. However, the struggle against ideas that run counter to these Western values continues, as demonstrated by recent political developments on both sides of the Atlantic. As one observer has noted, “The source of the West’s evolutionary power has been its openness, its equality of rights, and its social trust.” 2 All of those attributes have been called into question by the recent resurgence of illiberalism. This, of course, is not the first time that such a
least, new parties have emerged and parties once associated with the fringes and promising much more illiberal forms of democracy have become institutionalised. As a 2016 report surveying both right- and left-wing European populism and published by Timbro, the Swedish free market think-tank, caught the scale of the change: Today, populist parties are represented in the governments of nine European countries and act as parliamentary support in another two. Hence, one third of the governments of Europe are constituted by or dependent on populist parties … taken
pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron soundly defeated the extreme-right populist and EU-sceptic Marine le Pen for the French presidency. Consequences The Brexit vote to leave the EU is one of the most important victories yet for illiberal political movements in Europe – if one accepts that the UK is part of Europe, despite the beliefs of some Brits to the contrary. While the UK’s leading populist radical right party – UKIP – did not win control or even direct participation in government, it nonetheless scared the hell out of the Conservatives and led them down the
. This might not convince everyone, of course. “Readers may rightly ask”, a scholar wrote, “how we can justify the existence of mechanisms of direct democracy at all given the apparently regressive, xenophobic, and illiberal policies and attitudes that have been crystalized by these votes?” 2 . At first sight, and superficially, the justification for direct democratic mechanisms is not strong. But – and
military realm, even though the Russian military did step up harassment of Western air and naval units operating near Russia and probed Western defenses around the world. The most worrisome Russian strategy, however, was to attack Western democracy at its heart: the process of democratic election of Western governments. The meddling began in Europe, where Moscow sent overt as well as clandestine assistance to far-right illiberal political groups and parties. For example, the French National Front reportedly received a 9.4 million Euro loan from Russia in November 2014
had also damaged reputational pillars upon which it rested its claims to be one of the most progressive forces seen in European history. National enmities had returned to the foreground of European affairs, creating antagonism between different peoples and parts of their governing elites. The seductive claim that the EU is an essential guarantor of democracy in countries susceptible to authoritarian rule has also been badly undermined. This is not only due to the revival of illiberal and extremist parties but to the EU’s own readiness to foist unelected technocrats