In his review of Shadi Hamid’s book The Problem of Democracy (18 January), Jonathan Freedland asks an important question in relation to western democracies’ foreign policy: “Can a system really be considered democratic if it’s stripped of its liberal accoutrements?” When it comes to their domestic policy, the question should be partially reversed: can a system really maintain its liberal accoutrements if it’s stripped of its democratic reach?
The diffusion of illiberal and populist ideas in western countries is in part a response to a democratic backsliding that Cas Mudde has defined as “undemocratic liberalism”. In the years that followed the fall of the iron curtain, the leaders of our countries oversaw a process of unprecedented institutional restraint involving substantial delegation of power to autonomous agencies, technocrats, or external rules. This phenomenon is particularly evident in Europe, where the decision of technocratic agencies replaced democratic deliberation at the national level in several areas. The retreat of politics from policymaking, in turn, means a gradual reduction of options for the voters that ended up losing their “voice”, and that are now attracted by populist leaders offering (the illusion?) of returning it to them. Brexit is the perfect case in point.
