The future of freedom
by Fareed Zakaria · first published 2003
11mentions
2recommended by
6HN commenters
2010–2022first – last mentioned
33% recommend67% neutral
Examines the influence of democracy on politics, business and economics, law, culture, and religion in different regions of the world; explores the dark side of the democratic process; and reflects on the future of world democracy.
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…democracy ruled by Islamists who are destroying liberties, hollowing out civil society, and turning the country into a Sunni version of Iran under the Ayatollahs. Fareed Zakaria has a great book, The Future of Freedom, where he discusses, among other things, the perils of illiberal democracy. The bit that really stuck in my head is his argument that the impartial judge is a more important institution than the ballot…
on “Turkish government revokes ham radio licenses” ↗…keeping the Wahhabist mullahs from taking over completely. Liberal democracy will not work everywhere today, as our horribly misguided experiment in Iraq has demonstrated. I recommend Fareed Zakaria's The Future of Freedom for a discussion of the problem, but a very short summary is that you cannot have a functioning democracy without substantial economic development (natural resource money does NOT count for many reasons)…
on “Treaty banning nuclear weapons approved at UN” ↗…puzzling, as Rodriguez and Samman also note, is that these countries have not made nearly as much progress in democratization." You can read more on this phenomena in Fareed Zakaria's excellent book, "The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad"
on “The unsung development miracles of our time: Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria ” ↗…is why they initially wanted health care debates behind closed doors - the lobbyists can make much more use of transparency than the uninterested voter can. Fareed Zakaria wrote a lot about this in The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. {1} [A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution by Carol Berkin]
on “Dear Internet: It's no Longer OK Not to Know How Congress Works” ↗…Bangladesh these days as an example of that also. If the country you’re using as an example is in Eastern Europe, I think you may be overlooking key differences. Fareed Zakaria addresses this in his book “the Future of Freedom.” https://www.amazon.com/Future-Freedom-Illiberal-Democracy-Re.... He explains that many of the foundations of liberal democracy were put in place during autocratic regimes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future_of_Freedom.…
on “Disneyland with Death Penalty” ↗…is why they initially wanted health care debates behind closed doors - the lobbyists can make much more use of transparency than the uninterested voter can. Fareed Zakaria wrote a lot about this in The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. [A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution by Carol Berkin]
on “US Government Censors 70 Websites” ↗A while back I read that states which get their funding from natural resources instead of taxes very seldom turn into liberal democracies. I think it was in Zakaria's Future of Freedom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future_of_Freedom So maybe oil hasn't been a net benefit for these countries. In any case, if we stop needing their oil, their capacity for causing trouble will be…
on “Major next steps for fusion energy based on the spherical tokamak design” ↗…is why they initially wanted health care debates behind closed doors - the lobbyists can make much more use of transparency than the uninterested voter can. Fareed Zakaria wrote a lot about this in The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. [A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution by Carol Berkin]
on “How to Make Trillions of Dollars” ↗What's happening in Turkey really breaks my heart. It reminds me of Fareed Zakaria's book The Future of Freedom, about the phenomenon of illiberal and failed democracies. His thesis is that democratization can't succeed without liberalization first, brought about by economic and social development. And that democracy,…
on “Iran Complies with Nuclear Deal; Sanctions Are Lifted” ↗You've happened upon one of the main criticisms of democracy, addressed notably in Zakaria's The Future of Freedom. But I don't say that it's invalid for the people's representatives to unjustly oppress the lawbreakers we're discussing here. I only say that they shouldn't! You can dress it up in irrelevant appeals…
on “Sundar Pichai Responds to Apple and the FBI Hacking Request” ↗…It's very Eternal Septemberish. Many of the political discussions about the flaws of democracy are probably relevant here, too. Zakaria has some similar arguments: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future_of_Freedom This is then applied to America to argue that the increased democratization of American society and culture is what has caused the perceived failures of the government and governing elites. We have…
on “Twitter Soars After Surprise Sales Gain, First Real Profit” ↗