When Americans learned that 41-year-old Afghan citizen Abdul Rahman could be put to death for converting to Christianity, they were outraged. Chuck Colson spoke for many when he wrote, “Is this the fruit of democracy? Is this why we have shed American blood and invested American treasure to set a people free?” (Although Abdul Rahman was ultimately whisked away to the safety of Italy, the apostasy laws used to charge him haven’t been repealed.) When the Abdul Rahman case is added to Hamas’s electoral victory in the Palestinian territories and the Muslim Brotherhood’s gains in Egypt’s recent parliamentary elections, a disturbing trend emerges: the rise of illiberal democracy in the Middle East.

Elections are an integral part of a democracy–but they are not a substitute for a liberal democratic culture. Almost half of today’s “democratizing” countries can be classified as what Fareed Zakaria dubs “illiberal democracies”: Although they hold regular elections, they also violate their citizens’ human rights, political liberties, and religious freedom. The Bush administration, which has taken on the cause of advancing democracy in the Middle East, should be particularly concerned by these developments.