The illiberal mind

About 2.5 years ago, I wrote a piece titled, "Turkey: Fears of Illiberal Democracy." I argued that with the subordination of the Kemalist military-bureaucratic establishment by elected politicians, Turkey had finally consolidated its electoral democracy. However, this did not guarantee these elected politicians would act in liberal ways. There were rather worrying signs that Turkey could be heading towards what some political scientist call, "illiberal (i.e. authoritarian) democracy."

These signs have only increased since then, and Turkey has growingly become the illiberal democracy par excellence. We have an elected government which keeps winning the ballots, giving it popular legitimacy, but it is also demonizes its opponents, intimidates any critical press and curbs the rule of law. When it is criticized for these authoritarian practices, the government's response is only, "well, the people like us" ? "the people" being roughly half of the society. Meanwhile the more sophisticated apologists of the government argue that "extraordinary measures" are necessary for extraordinary times. They, in other words, resort to the exact "revolutionary" narrative that their Kemalist predecessors used for almost 90 years.

There is no doubt that this illiberal paradigm deserves powerful criticisms. But it also begs analysis. For authoritarianism does not come from nowhere. It comes from a certain mindset, which sees its way as the only way to govern a society.

One aspect of this mindset is the state having an overbearing role in human affairs. The state, with this in mind, exists not only to secure our borders and streets, provide us with education and healthcare and collect our trash, but also has the right, if not the mission, to lead society to...