 In the pursuit of this, his book begins with a historical overview of western democracy and its elements, arguing that not only can a liberal democracy form from a liberalizing autocracy (his most prominent example of this is South Korea), but that it is actually more likely to form and "last" that way than by trying to democratize the society first and liberalize it later (for this, he makes an example of Western Europe in the early twentieth century).He then goes on to describe illiberal democracies, defined as "regimes... that mix elections and authoritarianism," and argues that they are the result of countries that try to democratize without having a sturdy economy structured around the free-market and sound political institutions with checks and balances.This is then applied to America to argue that the increased democratization of American society and culture is what has caused the perceived failures of the government and governing elites.