One often hears that Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine is an attack on the West.

That's why it's now a matter of defending "Western values" with the help of economic sanctions and, if necessary, also with weapons.

Rainer Hank

Freelance author in the business section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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What are western values?

"Democracy," many say.

But democracy knows many varieties, not all suit us.

It is no more than a procedure for the legitimacy of a government by the people.

The people can also choose villains.

That's not nice, but it's still democracy.

Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian head of government, is proud of his "illiberal democracy".

He hates liberalism, he likes democracy: the voters' votes stabilize his power.

With democratic means and an electoral law that favors him, Orbán has transformed himself into an autocrat.

His Fidesz party could once again win an absolute majority in the Hungarian parliament this Sunday.

Liberalism and democracy are often used interchangeably.

That's wrong.

If it's about defending western values, then it should be about liberal values.

They are the legacy of the (Western) European Enlightenment.

I would defend liberalism tooth and nail.

Whether I would always defend democracy depends.

China and North Korea both have autocratic regimes that call themselves "people's" republics.

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi installs Hindu nationalism in his country, he has not betrayed democracy, but he has betrayed liberalism.

When Poland's government replaces judges it doesn't like and shuts down the state-independent press, that's not a violation of democracy, but a serious blow to the rule of law.

Liberalism is in retreat

Going even further, liberalism holds democratic governments in check against their vulnerability to being seduced by populism and nationalism.

Separation of powers puts executive power into perspective and protects minorities against democratic majorities.

For the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama, “classical liberalism” is an instrument “to peacefully manage tolerance in pluralistic societies”.

The central ideas are freedom, tolerance and respect for personal autonomy.

A government that in turn is disciplined by the law and respects it must guarantee these values.

The rule of law secures private property, freedom of contract and free markets: a democratically elected government must not throw any of these overboard.

Liberalism without a market economy does not work.

Democracy works without liberalism.

Whether liberalism works without democracy is controversial.

It cannot be overlooked that liberalism is in retreat everywhere.

The American think tank "Freedom House" subsumes only 20.3 percent of the world's governments under "free" for the year 2020, such as Germany, France, the United States and South Africa.

41.3 percent are “not free”, including Russia, China and Venezuela.

38.4 percent are “partially free”, for example Ukraine, Hungary, Singapore and India.

Compared to 2005, the changes towards illiberality are dramatic: At that time, 46 percent of the states counted as "free" and 31.1 percent as "partially free".