Metamorphoses of Liberalism and the Genealogy of Democratic Crisis in the Post-Bipolar Era: From Hegemony to the Erosion of Differences

This article examines the paradoxical transformation of the liberal democratic model after the collapse of the bipolar world in 1991. Having achieved geopolitical hegemony, liberalism evolved into an aggressive universalist project that denies alternative paths of development and imposes its norms through economic coercion (IMF, WTO), military interventions, and discursive violence. This provoked a systemic erosion of key democratic institutions. The sovereignty of the people is undermined by the power of supranational structures (EU, NATO) and technocratic elites that exclude democratic discussion of decisions. The public sphere has degraded under the influence of the media spectacle and artificial polarization, replacing rational dialogue with binary oppositions. Pluralism has become a formality, as politics is limited by the neoliberal consensus, and dissent is marginalized. The result is a disturbing convergence of liberal democracies and authoritarianism: alienation of power from citizens, opaque governance, suppression of dissent (legally, economically, and in the media), and justification of exceptions by the rhetoric of “higher values”. Overcoming the crisis requires abandoning the universalism of the Western model, restoring politics as a space for the collective good, and searching for new forms of democracy that are resistant to hegemony and authoritarianism.