The Enduring Vulnerability of LiberalDemocracy
William A. Galston ISSUE DATE: July 2020 VOLUME: 31 ISSUE: 3
https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the-enduring-vulnerability-of-liberal-democracy/
ABSTRACT
Liberal democracy is under pressure and on the defensive. Wellbefore the covid-19 outbreak, antiliberal politicians and intellectualshad issued a complex bill of particulars against liberalism. Populists
charged that liberalism had become a cloak for antidemocraticelitism that took power away from rank-and-file citizens whileundermining their economic interests. Nationalists alleged thatliberalism bred international institutions and laws that invadednations’ sovereignty and hobbled the pursuit of legitimate nationalinterests. Cultural traditionalists claimed that liberal individualismeroded moral and religious communities and that liberal freedomerased the distinction between liberty and license. Yet thesepopulist, nationalist, and cultural-traditionalist critiques are basedon misunderstandings of liberalism. Like every other form ofgovernment, liberal democracy has inherent structural weaknessesthat the difficulties of the moment exacerbate but do not create.Wise leadership can mitigate these weaknesses, but it cannoteliminate them.
