Pseudo-democratitis

By the people, but not for them

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The world's liberal democracies are in a fight for trade and influence with militarised autocracies. Yet they are also in a fight with illiberal democracies in their midst - countries whose power is in many cases softer than the autocrats' but more insidious and more divisive - and harder to confront.

Consider Slovakia. Not for the first time this Eastern European country is holding to ransom the EU's efforts to wean itself off Russian oil and gas in order to stop funding the war in Ukraine. Last week its prime minister, Robert Fico, named his price for suspending his de facto support for Russia: energy subsidies to meet 100% of Slovakia's costs in switching to alternative suppliers and losing the $500m in transit fees it earns each year for Russian fossil fuels being piped across its territory.