Russia: The Illiberal Democracy

An illiberal democracy is a type of government, whose leaders, though democratically elected, often ignore the basic needs and rights of its citizens and overstep their boundaries of power. The leaders of such a country may use law enforcement to silence political opponents and amy ban freedom of speech and freedom of the press, both which are encouraged in a liberal democracy. A prominent feature of a illiberal democracy is that citizens are not allowed to be involved in that country's political process, whether through political rallies or through the press. The term "illiberal democracy" was first coined by journalist Fareed Zakaria in an article he wrote for Foreign Policy in 1997, entitled "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy".

A recognizable illiberal democracy in the world today is Russia. The following article is from Reuters, detailing how corrupt Russian officials would exhort American business's in Russia for personal gain.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62E1SU20100315