Democracy Without Liberalism? Toward a Political Theory of Illiberal Democracy

Two member states of the European Union, Hungary and Poland, are often characterized as “illiberal democracies” – as states in which the division of powers and the rights of individuals have crumbled due to the actions of the governments (1). These developments are perhaps most visible in the sphere of legislation that aims to limit the rights of sexual minorities, or in the case of Poland, to limit the right to abortion (2). The broad rise of right-wing populist movements in the West during the last decade is also a fact that raises the broader question concerning the viability of liberal democratic values within the contemporary European Union. Although populism is a distinct political phenomenon, the recent developments in the EU seem to point toward some common ground between the rise of illiberal democracy and populist movements (3). Moreover, the dictatorial government in Putin’s Russia and the authoritarian government in Turkey pose a threat to the viability of liberal democracy in Europe (4). Most recently, Russia’s full-scale military assault on Ukraine poses a radical challenge to the security environment and political unity of Europe as such. Tackling these topical political issues, this presentation argues that a historical-analytical investigation of the concept of “illiberal democracy” and its intellectual origins can offer crucial conceptual tools for understanding the surge of illiberal and/or antiliberal states and political movements in Europe and beyond. The presentation has two central research objectives: (1) To sketch and track down a historical genealogy of “illiberalism” within the recent history of European political thought. (2) Through empirical and theoretical analyses of existing “illiberal democracies” in Europe, the presentation aims to offer a theoretical condensation of the basic elements of what illiberal democracy consists of in the concrete political reality of the present. By relying on these genealogical and theoretical-empirical analyses, the presentation aims to create specific conceptual tools for evaluating the threat of illiberal democracy in contemporary and future Europe. Bibliography: 1. Pech, Laurent and Scheppele, Kim Lane. 2017 “Illiberalism Within: Rule of Law Backsliding in the EU.” Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies, Vol. 19, 2017, 3–47; Wilkin, Peter. 2018. “The Rise of “Illiberal” Democracy: The Orbánization of Hungarian Political Culture.” Journal of World-Systems Research, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2018, 5–42; Pirro, Andrea L. P. and Stanley, Ben. 2021. “Forging, Bending, and Breaking: Enacting the ‘Illiberal Playbook’ in Hungary and Poland.” Perspectives on Politics, 2021, 1–16. 2. Grzebalska, Weronika and Pető, Andrea. 2018. “The gendered modus operandi of the illiberal transformation in Hungary and Poland.” Women's Studies International Forum. Vol. 68, 2018, 164–172; Koralewska, Inga & Zielińska, Katarzyna. 2021. “‘Defending the unborn’, ‘protecting women’ and ‘preserving culture and nation’: anti-abortion discourse in the Polish right-wing press.” Culture, Health & Sexuality, 2021. 3. Wodak, Ruth, KhosraviNik, Majid and Mral, Brigitte (eds.). 2013. Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse. London: Bloomsbury 4. Öktem Kerem and Akkoyunlu Karabekir. 2019. Exit from Democracy: Illiberal Governance in Turkey and Beyond. London: Routledge.