Illiberal Practices

Traditional modes of analysis in comparative politics, political theory, and human rights obscure certain features of contemporary manifestations of illiberalism. This chapter demonstrates how a practice approach can expose the ubiquity of strands of illiberalism in all contemporary societies and the ties that run between them, as well as facilitating a fuller analysis of the impact of illiberal leaders. An illiberal practice is defined as a pattern of actions, embedded in an organized context, which infringe on the autonomy and dignity of the person. The chapter discusses the concept of a practice as a unit of analysis, illuminates the distinction between illiberal and authoritarian practices, and suggests how a practice perspective can provide a more socially relevant and resonant understanding of illiberalism by means of two brief case studies. The case study on mass digital surveillance shows how an illiberal practice that was once secret and shocking has become normalized. In the second case, on restricting NGOs, illiberal practices are spread by states learning from their illiberal peers. Together they show how a practice approach to illiberalism can take us beyond a focus on leaders, ideologies, or national regime types.