Démocratie et liberté. À propos du livre de Fareed Zakaria, L'Avenir de la liberté

Michel Drancourt reviews the most recent book (New York: Norton & Co, 2003) by Fareed Zakaria, an editorial writer for Newsweek, in which he examines the future of freedom and democracy. Zakaria argues that democracy -as it is defined today by most Westerners (free elections, separation of powers and respect for individual liberties)- is in danger of making many wrong turnings. If we are not careful, he says, it could become “illiberal democracy”, in other words it might no longer guarantee respect for the basic freedoms, even though this has always been one of its fundamental principles. He goes on to argue that this is why it is so important now to take stock of these problems and build defences against these illiberal tendencies, in particular by creating effective regulatory authorities.