Democratic Self-Defence

Abstract

How democracies should contain autocratic or illiberal forces lies at the heart of debates on democratic self-defence. Rather than taking sides in this debate, this book compares ideal types of democratic self-defence and the normative principles that underlie them. It helps readers distinguish more clearly between strategies based on militant democracy and those grounded in principles of toleration or social integration. By showing that they differ fundamentally in their diagnosis of democratic threats, the means they endorse, and the ends they pursue, the book enables readers to identify the three ideal types—militant, tolerant, and social—across a wide range of democratic self-defence settings, spanning law and state institutions, political arenas and civil society. It provides a comprehensive account of the normative arguments associated with each ideal type and of the conception of democracy that supports it. The book argues that defenders of democracy should be transparent about the principles underlying their actions, because these principles shape not only how they respond to antidemocratic actors, but also who counts as an antidemocratic actor and what kind of democracy is being defended.