Ruling by Cheating: Governance in Illiberal Democracy

Description

There is widespread agreement that democracy today faces unprecedented challenges. Populism has pushed governments in new and surprising constitutional directions. Analysing the constitutional system of illiberal democracies (from Venezuela to Poland) and illiberal phenomena in 'mature democracies' that are justified in the name of 'the will of the people', this book explains that this drift to mild despotism is not authoritarianism, but an abuse of constitutionalism. Illiberal governments claim that they are as democratic and constitutional as any other. They also claim that they are more popular and therefore more genuine because their rule is based on conservative, plebeian and 'patriotic' constitutional and rule of law values rather than the values liberals espouse. However, this book shows that these claims are deeply deceptive - an abuse of constitutionalism and the rule of law, not a different conception of these ideas. 05.0_pp_vii_x_Contents 06.0_pp_xi_xi_Acknowledgments 07.0_pp_xii_xii_Abbreviations 08.0_pp_1_17_Introduction 09.0_pp_18_55_Placing_Illiberal_Democracy 10.0_pp_56_91_The_Emergence_of_the_Illiberal_State 11.0_pp_92_111_Creating_Dependence 12.0_pp_112_152_They_the_People 13.0_pp_153_197_Constitutional_Structure 14.0_pp_198_236_The_Fate_of_Human_Rights 15.0_pp_237_278_Profiting_from_the_Rule_of_Law 16.0_pp_279_327_Cheating 17.0_pp_328_338_Index