i did think about it very hard. Partly because i thought, you know, there's a lot of british readers who will be antagonized by this and willt the book to one side. And partly because, talking to people outside britain about brexet and so on, they very much saw it as part of two political earthquakes in 20 16 that had rocked the western liberal order. The other one was the election of donald trump. And they were both the kind of reassertion of er, of nationalism and er. You know, sir sir trump said he was actually really in britain on the day of the brekot vote, i think
In The Age of the Strongman, the journalist Gideon Rachman explores how populist and authoritarian leaders have become a central feature of global politics. Since Vladimir Putin took power in Russia at the beginning of the new millennium, self-styled strongmen have emerged across the globe, from Trump and Bolsonaro to Orbán, Xi and Modi. Rachman tells Tom Sutcliffe how these leaders have taken power and the challenge they pose to liberal democracy.
Judy Dempsey is a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe and editor in chief of the Strategic Europe blog. She explains how Viktor Orbán has tightened his grip on power in Hungary, while the EU has dragged its heels. And how Putin’s war in Ukraine has not only exacerbated pre-existing global divisions but divided Europe as well.
History is littered with powerful leaders, and Christopher de Bellaigue, tells of the rise of one of the most feared – Suleyman the Magnificent. In The Lion House: The Coming of a King the 16th century Ottoman Sultan dominates the lives of those from Baghdad to the walls of Vienna.
Producer: Katy Hickman