Politics and Prose | Anne Applebaum — Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World @politicsprose | Uploaded July 2024 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
Watch authorAnne Applebaum's book talk and reading at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.
PURCHASE BOOK HERE: politics-prose.com/book/9780385549936
We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents.
But in the 21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists, all of which operate across multiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran. Corrupt companies in one country do business with corrupt companies in another. The police in one country can arm and train the police in another, and propagandists share resources and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America.
International condemnation and economic sanctions cannot move the autocrats. Even popular opposition movements, from Venezuela to Hong Kong to Moscow, don't stand a chance. The members of Autocracy, Inc, aren't linked by a unifying ideology, like communism, but rather a common desire for power, wealth, and impunity. In this urgent treatise, which evokes George Kennan's essay calling for "containment" of the Soviet Union, Anne Applebaum calls for the democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to fight a new kind of threat.
After seventeen years as a columnist at The Washington Post, Anne Applebaum became a staff writer at The Atlantic in January 2020. She is the author of five critically acclaimed and award-winning books: Twilight of Democracy, Red Famine, Iron Curtain, Between East and West, and Gulag, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. She divides her time between Poland, where her husband is foreign minister, and Washington, D.C.
Be Sure To Click SUBSCRIBE: youtube.com/channel/UCT83IOUtKdPUL9hOzYjxbcQ?sub_confirmation=1
@politicsprose
Visit us online at: politics-prose.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/PoliticsProse
Follow us on instagram: instagram.com/politicsprose
Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/politicsandprose
Follow us on Threads: threads.net/@politicsprose
Follow Us On TikTok: tiktok.com/@politicsprose?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1
Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter:
politics-prose.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=804c700632a508a8e792e69cf&id=6a0dbf1855&SIGNUP=HomepageFooter
Become a store member and save: politics-prose.com/membership
Audio Archive: archive.org/details/@politics_prose_bookstore
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online.
Watch authorAnne Applebaum's book talk and reading at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.
PURCHASE BOOK HERE: politics-prose.com/book/9780385549936
We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents.
But in the 21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists, all of which operate across multiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran. Corrupt companies in one country do business with corrupt companies in another. The police in one country can arm and train the police in another, and propagandists share resources and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America.
International condemnation and economic sanctions cannot move the autocrats. Even popular opposition movements, from Venezuela to Hong Kong to Moscow, don't stand a chance. The members of Autocracy, Inc, aren't linked by a unifying ideology, like communism, but rather a common desire for power, wealth, and impunity. In this urgent treatise, which evokes George Kennan's essay calling for "containment" of the Soviet Union, Anne Applebaum calls for the democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to fight a new kind of threat.
After seventeen years as a columnist at The Washington Post, Anne Applebaum became a staff writer at The Atlantic in January 2020. She is the author of five critically acclaimed and award-winning books: Twilight of Democracy, Red Famine, Iron Curtain, Between East and West, and Gulag, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. She divides her time between Poland, where her husband is foreign minister, and Washington, D.C.
Be Sure To Click SUBSCRIBE: youtube.com/channel/UCT83IOUtKdPUL9hOzYjxbcQ?sub_confirmation=1
@politicsprose
Visit us online at: politics-prose.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/PoliticsProse
Follow us on instagram: instagram.com/politicsprose
Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/politicsandprose
Follow us on Threads: threads.net/@politicsprose
Follow Us On TikTok: tiktok.com/@politicsprose?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1
Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter:
politics-prose.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=804c700632a508a8e792e69cf&id=6a0dbf1855&SIGNUP=HomepageFooter
Become a store member and save: politics-prose.com/membership
Audio Archive: archive.org/details/@politics_prose_bookstore
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online.
