[1] Until the 20th century, most countries in Western Europe were "liberal autocracies, or at best, semi-democracies".
[3] According to Fareed Zakaria, a more recent example is Hong Kong until 1 July 1997, which was ruled by the British Crown.
He says that until 1991 "it had never held a meaningful election, but its government epitomized constitutional liberalism, protecting its citizens' basic rights and administering a fair court system and bureaucracy".
For instance, 19th-century autocracies often abolished feudal institutions like serfdom, guilds, privileges for the nobility and inequality before the law, but freedom of speech and freedom of association were at best limited.
Hong Kong is arguably a special case, where during the latter stages of British colonial rule, there was considerable freedom of speech and freedom of association, but also the common knowledge that China would not allow an independent state with free elections.