The political history of the twentieth century can be viewed as the history of d
emocracy's struggle against its external enemies: fascism and communism. This st
ruggle ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet reg
ime. Some people think that democracy now faces new enemies: Islamic fundamental
ism, religious extremism and international terrorism and that this is the strugg
le that will define our times. Todorov disagrees: the biggest threat to democrac
y today is democracy itself. Its enemies are within: what the ancient Greeks cal
led 'hubris'.
Todorov argues that certain democratic values have been distorted
and pushed to an extreme that serves the interests of dominant states and power
ful individuals. In the name of 'democracy' and 'human rights', the United State
s and some European countries have embarked on a crusade to enlighten some forei
gn populations through the use of force. Yet this mission to 'help' others has l
ed to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, to large-scale destruction and loss of life and
to a moral crisis of growing proportions. The defence of freedom, if unlimited,
can lead to the tyranny of individuals.
Drawing on recent history as well as h
is own experience of growing up in a totalitarian regime, Todorov returns to exa
mples borrowed from the Western canon: from a dispute between Augustine and Pela
gius to the fierce debates among Enlightenment thinkers to explore the origin of
these perversions of democracy. He argues compellingly that the real democratic
ideal is to be found in the delicate, ever-changing balance between competing p
rinciples, popular sovereignty, freedom and progress. When one of these elements
breaks free and turns into an over-riding principle, it becomes dangerous: popu
lism, ultra-liberalism and messianism, the inner enemies of democracy.
