Democracy and Liberty: The Cultural Connection

Freedom as a Foundation of Liberal Democracy: A Normative Perspective

“…In 94 cases (49 percent), the scores on two dimensions were exactly the same; in another 81 cases (43 percent), the difference in the scores was only one point. Only in 15 cases (8 percent) the difference was two points, and in no case it was more than that [6]. These numbers show that while autocratic regimes occasionally can protect the rights of their subjects better than democracies, this is rather an exception than a rule.…”

“…Other authors, such as Parag Khanna, acknowledge that liberalism and democracy are amid troubled waters in the modern world, however they are far from re-asserting their value and believe that their replacement by new forms of political organization, more "fit" for our age, is a natural process resembling the Darwinian evolution. In light of their attacking arguments, a number of scholars, including David Betham [4], Russel Bova [6]. Fareed Zakaria [18], Paulo Freire [7], Francesca Polletta [14] etc., establish a profound connection between liberal democracy and freedom, while warning against extreme skews toward either illiberal populist regimes or top-down authoritarian technocratic power assisted by modern technologies.…”

“…"Democratic governments, though varying among themselves in level of respect for human rights, are assumed to do a better job of protecting those rights than do their authoritarian counterparts. On the other hand, liberty is frequently treated as a precondition of democracy, to the point that most scholars include civil and political liberties as a third element (beyond participation and contestation) of the definition of democracy itself" [6].…”

“…However, if it is presumed that freedom consists of two parts, negative and positive, then the two approaches should be combined and the protection of individual rights should balance the rule of the people. "With the perspective of hindsight", writes the researcher Russel Bova, "one might argue that precisely this Tocquevillean fear of democratic tyrannyrooted in decades of Enlightenment thought and reflected, for example, in the statesmanship of the framers of the US Constitution -has helped to develop and maintain the essentially liberal character of Western democracy" [6]. At the same time, these two dimensions of freedom, negative and positive, should not be mechanistically contrasted, because such contrasting essentially overlooks the connection between them.…”

“…Russel Bova, on his part, gives weight to the idea that democracy, as a procedural way of forming the government, does a much better job in protecting freedom compared to authoritarian countries. "Democratic checks on rulers", he argues, "make it much more difficult for them to abuse their power or oppress their subjects, and they provide the opportunity for citizens to act to expand the range of rights to which they are entitled" [6]. Bova also illustrates this point with data.…”