Description
The present epoch is characterized by startling technological and economic advances on the one hand and conditions of extreme socio-economic retrogression and distress on the other hand. Another discernible trend that has ebbed and flowed since the 19th century has been the rise of populism in various parts of Europe and North America. Socio-economic distress in the world has gone hand in hand with disaffection in the citizenry with incumbent regimes and the quest for alternatives. In these times of crises, political outliers have appealed to a polarized population to further their political agenda and seize power. Populism has generally been complicit with ideologies such as nationalism, liberalism or socialism. However, in the contemporary era, with a gradual erosion of trust in processes such as globalization, the welfare state, financial institutions in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis has meant a rising trend towards the waning of trust in liberalism in general and liberal democracy in particular. This trend towards mistrusting institutions and the competence of democratic governments in changing the plight of people has pushed communities that have not reaped the dividends of processes such as globalization, to depose faith in more radical and extreme far-right and far-left stances, along with newer denomination of alt-right. A catalytic role in the proliferation of these trends has been played by a rapid increase in technological progress especially in telecommunication, internet, and social networking. Technological progress has intensified the spread of misinformation, fake news, and alternative facts. These appendages along with populism have gravely affected the legitimacy of liberalism as an ideology and weakened the four pillars of democracy, in turn, giving rise to authoritarianism and illiberal democracies. This paper will delve into the rising tendencies of illiberal democracies and strategies of countering illiberalism. To understand the tendencies of illiberalism we will try to look into developing trends of illiberalism in Hungary, Turkey, Myanmar, Poland, Egypt and India and debates surrounding these conceptions.
