Broadly speaking, my research topic for this year is centered on the rise of illiberal democracies and authoritarian strongmen worldwide. In our first class, I described this as being interested in “how democracies die.” While I did not mean this to be as ominous as it sounded, it does capture part of the reason I am dedicated to my topic. In recent years, the world has seen countries as diverse as Turkey, Hungary, Poland, and the Philippines turn strongly against liberal democracy. This transition has been alarming to me, not the least because each of these transitions was embarked upon by leaders elected by democratic processes who were not necessarily subtle about what their plans were for their respective countries. While alarming, this phenomena also provides me with the principle puzzle I am interested in for this topic. Namely, what causes electorates in liberal democracies to abandon liberal democracy in favor of illiberal strongmen?
This puzzle is especially interesting to me since one of the most important developments from the end of World War II to the present era has been the rapid expansion of liberal democracy. Indeed, in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Francis Fukuyama went so far as to claim that history had reached its natural end and liberal democracy was the final victor. If more electorates follow in the footsteps of Turkey, Hungary, Poland, and the Philippines then liberal democracies may be approaching the end of its epoch. If this is the case, this would be a monumental shift in the tide of world history and would have serious ramifications for the world. It is for this reason that I am interested in studying illiberal democracies and why they are increasingly on the rise.
Your broad topic area sounds good, Noah, and there is much to research in this topic area. One thing to work on as you continue reading and thinking about the topic area would be the more precise ways in which countries might “turn strongly against liberal democracy” — what are the precise empirical changes that you’ve observed in those different countries? Are they the same/different types of dynamics? Thinking about historical perspective, are these changes as unique to this moment as it might seem from headlines?
Meeting with your mentor to discuss this topic area, and to think about puzzles within it, will be an important next step. In addition, it would be good to start to explore what scholars are saying about this broad topic area, and more specific puzzles or debates within it, to point you towards those deeper research puzzles that you could pursue in 206 and 306. With some more digging — and this is an ongoing process — we’re going to work towards some “why…?” or “what explains…?” type questions that get us towards the idea of *understanding* as discussed by Booth et al. (p. 23). Keep up the reading and research — I’m very interested to see how the project develops in the next few weeks!
Also, two minor posting/formatting notes. First, be sure to cite sources. You mention Fukuyama in the 2nd paragraph, so that sentence needs a footnote at the end with a citation to the work that you are mentioning. Second, be sure to check the required categories listed on the assignment sheet for your post as you write it (before you click “Publish”) so that the search and organization filters on the site pick up your post, and so that I see it when I search for different posts.
Something you might consider in your research is whether the causes you mentioned as to why electorates elect illiberal leaders are similar now compared to previous “reverse waves” of democratization. See here: https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/share-of-democracies-in-the-world-1816-2002-wilhelmsen-png.png