The Rise of the Illiberal Public Sphere

Abstract

This chapter sets out the theoretical framework of the book, centred on the key concept of the illiberal public sphere. We first outline our understanding of illiberalism and explain what makes it distinct from related phenomena such as populism and democratic backsliding. Following from that, we introduce the concept of the illiberal public sphere, and elaborate on the historical relationship between liberalism and the public sphere, as well as on the existing alternatives to the classic ‘Habermasian’ model, indicating that a public sphere can exist outside of the scope of liberal democracy. The chapter then proceeds to identify three ideal-typical stages in the development of the illiberal public sphere—labelled as incipient, ascendant and hegemonic—and charts the contemporary state of the illiberal public sphere in each of the four countries that are at the forefront of our analysis.