Democracy and liberalism can be decoupled and even opposed

Evidence

Liberalism and democracy, although compatible, are not the same … the opposite of liberalism is totalitarianism, while the opposite of democracy is authoritarianism. In consequence, it is at least possible in principle that a democratic government may be totalitarian and that an authoritarian government may act on liberal principles … [in] demanding unlimited power of the majority, [democracies] become essentially anti-liberal. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 235

Categorization

• DEFINE: Crisply defines the core Hayekian/Schmittian distinction between democracy (majority will) and liberalism (market-freedom) as separable axes — the conceptual hinge that lets the NTC praise authoritarian liberalism.
• XREF: connects to: Habermas openly deployed ‘democracy’ as a radical normative measure unlike his predecessors — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2335; Extra-parliamentary civil disobedience is justified when bourgeois democracy blocks qualitative change — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2672; Liberalism generates the counter-movements that eventually restrain it — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 400 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Hayek argued democracy and liberalism can diverge, with democracy potentially turning anti-liberal #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2144