How to Save Liberalism From Democracy

• In Event: Mixed Regimes and the Limits of Political Legitimacy

Abstract

In Democracy in America, Tocqueville famously observed that the steady, relentless extension of the principle of equality was the one great providential fact of history. Because democracy had long been associated with mob-rule, it is quite reasonable, he noted, to worry about what this trajectory implied for liberal values. Yet, what the American example revealed, he went on to argue, was that liberal values could be preserved by, indeed might even be furthered by, a well-ordered democracy. This essay will argue that Tocqueville was mistaken: democratic institutions are rarely able to withstand illiberal sentiments. Hence, the stability and flourishing of liberal values depends on the practically challenging business of building and maintaining a mixed regime in the face of calls for ever great political and economic equality. This paper will draw on several cases across East Asia and elsewhere, and offer some empirical as well as normative analysis.

Author

• Rahul Sagar, NYU Abu Dhabi