May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Modern history is the story of how
liberal democracy, originating in the U.K. and America, spread
around the world. This may sound like an absurd fantasy. In
actuality, this Whiggish narrative of progress underpins most
newspaper editorials, political commentary and speeches in the
West, and frames larger views of political developments in the
non-West.
It accounts for the gloomy undertone to Freedom House’s
latest report, which records the shrinking of liberal democracy
worldwide. Even countries with regular elections, such as India,
are far from upholding the notion of liberalism, which advocates
the maximizing of individual rights for the fullest realization
of human potential.
