Future of Freedom

Rating:
Summary: Liberty Over Democracy
Review: Fareed Zakaria puts forth a commanding and passionate argument in favor of constitutional liberty over democracy.

As he points out, countries that rushed into democracy without first establishing institutions to secure individual freedom saw democracy degenerate rather than evolve. The world is littered with examples including Iran, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Egypt, and perhaps soon Iraq.

Zakaria views constitutional liberty, which refers to the protection of individual rights via the rule of law as enshrined in a constitution, as the necessary foundation on which to build a democracy with appropriate limits on the accumulation of power by state, church, or society.

The author presents a masterful overview of the history of liberty and democracy in the West to demonstrate that long lasting democracies emerged because constitutional liberty facilitated democracy rather than the other way around.

He illustrates how human liberty grew out of struggles between church and state, kings and lords, Catholicism and Protestantism, culminating in the Enlightenment and, finally, capitalism.

Interestingly, Zakaria's best practice recommendation for democratization is similar to the prevailing wisdom in other areas of complex development (e.g. software) - proceed incrementally, not with a big bang.

His most important prerequisite for democracy is a high per capita national income based on earned wealth (as opposed to wealth based on natural resources such as oil).

Based on the above, the author makes several bold predictions such as "Singapore will be a fully functioning liberal democracy within a generation" and "democracy will take place in China over the next few decades."

Howver, I must refute Zakaria's characterization of the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002 as "unprecedented" and "India's first state-assisted pogrom."

The anti-Sikh pogrom during the early days of November 1984 in Delhi and other cities is widely acknowledged to have been orchestrated by the ruling Congress Party, of which Zakaria's father, Rafiq, was then deputy leader in parliament.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It is a pleasure to read and contains a wealth of information and rare insight on every page.

Rating:
Summary: The Democra-Shizzle
Review: This is very likely the shortest and most complex interpretation of the benefits and drawbacks of modern democracy. Zakaria argues convincingly that democracy is unlikely to survive without a brilliant constitution. Democracy is examined as a complex relationship between government infrastructure, private enterprise, the rule of law, and the citizenry. The point is that there are critical requirements for durable democracy other than simply holding elections; Zakaria makes excellent examples of failed (or failing) states whose people democratically elect demagogues and fanatics pretty regularly. The weakness of such states, Zakaria believes, is caused by a failure to embrace constitutional liberalism.

For the last eighty pages or so, Zakaria lays out the trouble with democracy in the U.S., making clear that real progress in policy requires a different time-frame than your average election cycle. He makes excellent points about the decline of political parties; the democratic overdose in California; the marketization of the media (and pretty much everything else), and he presents a very strong case for the protection of decidedly undemocratic institutions (the Supreme Court, among others).

In the paperback edition he's got an afterword with a few policy recommendations on how best not to screw up Iraq, all of which are impressively thoughtful.

The book is excellent reading for anyone willing to consider that freedom and democracy are not really the same thing.

Rating:
Summary: a welcome break from the political screaming on TV...
Review: read this book on a long trip. very thought provoking, incisive, and very different from the shrill shallow stridency of polarized political pundits pontificating profanities against the other guys, be they liberals, neo-cons, right-wingers, whatever. wish more people get a chance to read material of this caliber, it makes you think and question without marching with the mob.

Rating:
Summary: A Thought Provoking Book on Democracy
Review: This book challenges the notion that more democracy all the time must be better. We've become accustomed to the idea that spreading democracy is easy and desirable. However, Zakaria challenges that belief, arguing that past trends show that countries that liberalize their economies before their politics fare better than those who try to liberalize their politics while their nation is poor. He shows that when a poor nation tries to start a democracy, they tend to vote in nationalist figures who campaign on issues involving the state of the economy. This idea doesn't sit well with the public and their representatives. That's because no one likes the idea of having to support a dictator, even if he supports economic liberalization. It seems better to be able to point to a country and say they are a democracy rather than saying their economy is on the rise. Zakaria does an excellent job of laying out the facts of both liberal deomcracies (those that support individual rights and hte rule of law) and illiberal democracies, or countries who hold democratic elections that produce rulers that don't support liberal ideas as discussed above. Anybody who desires to have a more thorough and complete understanding of the nature of democracy in the world should read this book. It is easily accessible and has an important message that many of us, if not all, could benefit from.

Rating:
Summary: Really made me think
Review: I don't necessary agree with all of Zararia's conclusions, but it really made me revisit my assumptions regarding democracy via-a-vis freedom. It also made me rethink my views regarding certain "anti-democratic" provisions in our Constitution that may have been wiser than I previously held them to be. Very readable.