Review: The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad by Fareed Zakaria.
First book of 2005 -- and this is a goodie. The essential theory is that democracy is not the end-all be-all. Zakaria brings in lots of historical and current examples and does a brilliant job refuting some well-heeled theories.
But if you do get this book -- my advice is to divide it into two books and read the first half ad then stop. The second half of the book talks more about how America could be a better democracy. Instead, read Running On Empty by Pete Peterson.