Dismantling Democracy

Recently longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, journalist and historian Anne Applebaum's Autocracy Inc. - The Dictators who want to run the World (2024) is a frighteningly timely look at global affairs. 

If one were to compile a list of modern day autocrats, names like Putin, Orban, Erdogan, and Modi come to mind. Increasingly, so does Trump, as he seemingly has no checks and balances in his complete disregard for the rule of law. But as Applebaum points out, it is not just strongmen who run the world. There is an entire interconnected system of corporations, militaries, and alliances that allow autocrats to flourish. Dictators shield other dictators and help them test the boundaries of their powers. They also deal with each other, trading oil, weapons, and information to prop up their regimes. Together they are untouchable; unstoppable forces which shamelessly silence their critics and hide behind a false promise of democracy. 

Autocracy Inc thrives with media support. In Chapter III "Controlling the Narrative", Applebaum shows how news outlets have sprung up in recent years to propaganda and fake news. Social media has amplified their reach. She shows how Russia has created false profiles to spread misinformation about Ukraine and disrupt politics in the United States. In China the 'great firewall' stops access to parts the intranet and its internal propaganda controls information about Taiwan. Authoritarian regime use these tools of propaganda to disrupt, push false narratives, and move people to the extremes. 

Applebaum does a great job of showing how autocrats have a common enemy in 'the West', shunning alliances like NATO or the EU, questioning the legitimacy of institutions like the UN, the World Bank, and the International Criminal Court. Of course now the West has its own autocrat. This book was published prior to Trump's election for a second term, and his first fifty days in office have seen him pull out the playbook used by Putin et al to dismantle democracy and unleash chaos, conspiracy and doubt.

Despite the brevity of this short book, Applebaum paints a compelling portrait of what is happening in parts of the world. Yet after being bombarded with depressing facts about the global state of affairs, Applebaum gives a glimmer of hope. She points to solutions like reforming the financial system by requiring greater transparency for trusts, property purchase and companies. Nevertheless, as much as we need optimism right now, what we need more is courage and the resilience to put up the fight against autocracy. The stakes are too high to remain silent.