The Future of Freedom

This is the title of a fascinating book that I am reading by Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International. He examines the importance of liberty and democracy in nation-building and makes a strong case that liberty should take precedence over democracy if nations are to achieve the peace and prosperity they seek. Zakaria builds on much of de Toqueville’s writings and updates them with modern-day examples. The democratically-elected autocrats of Russia and Venezuela are excellent examples of how illiberal democaracies can be extremely dangerous. The dictatorships in Korea and Taiwan in the 1980s and 1990s led to a transformation of these countries into successful liberal democracies. Capitalist and the rule of law came first, then democracy. There is still plenty of corruption, nepotism and voter fraud in these countries today, yet the same could be said about the American South in the 1950s. Democracy that is not built on a foundation of constitutional liberalism can often lead to the tyranny of the majority that De Toqueville was so concerned with. Well worth the read.