Fareed Zakaria, a well-known commentator on world affairs, here proves himself a democracy skeptic. Zakaria points out that democracy without liberalism is a roadster without brakes -- looking good, but headed for a crash.

In much of the poor world, says Zakaria, democracy comes without liberal institutions attached -- weak press, no civil society, poor checks and balances, limited legal protections. The result is democracies that aggravate ethnic tensions or elect populist, irresponsible leaders. Tyranny of the majority, as the saying goes. Zakaria points out that there are a lot of non-democratic but liberal places -- Singapore, Hong Kong -- that work better than democratic but illiberal places -- Indonesia, Venezuela.

There are some cheap shots -- Indonesia's problems were stored up by its dictator, Suharto, not its fledgling democracy. And a section about how the US is becoming more illiberal doesn't click with the rest. But it's a well-written book with a provocative thesis that has important country analysis implications.